Celtic Memories: 3-3 draw with Motherwell | OneFootball

The first few months of season 2000/01 were something of a whirlwind for Celtic. Martin O’Neill was proving himself as a class manager, Sutton was in fine form, Lubo and Henrik were there and the memory of beating Rangers 6-2 was still fresh in the mind. In October 2000, the Bhoys travelled to Fir Park for what many would have predicted to be a routine win; it was anything but.

Celtic went ahead with Johan Mjallby bundling the ball over the line, but were quickly pegged back when Derek Adams scored for the hosts, before Lee McCulloch put them in front. Joos Valgaeren levelled things up again, before Jackie McNamara gave Celtic the lead once more… only for Ged Brannan to make it 3-3 with a penalty kick 12 minutes from time!

Celtic recorded a number of opportunities in the opening stages, most notably when Didier Agathe broke clear and Stephen Woods’ (now Celtic goalkeeper coach) save left Alan Thompson with an open goal but the Englishman stumbled and thus couldn’t take advantage of an empty net awaiting him. The goal did come on 13 minutes when Woods flapped at a corner and Larsson headed the ball square for his compatriot, Mjallby, to score.

Motherwell came back with a couple of shots from the edge of the box. In the 23rd minute John Spencer sent in a cross that Tom Boyd could only help up in the air and Adams came charging in bravely to beat Valgaeren and nod the ball past Jonathan Gould.

There were chances at both ends once the score became 1-1. Adams missed from inside the box and Larsson was about to nestle a header into the back of the net when the defender nipped just in front to clear a delightful cross from Bobby Petta. Nevertheless, the half time whistle sounded with no further goals.

The second 45 was played at a furious pace. Less than 8 minutes after the restart, Motherwell went ahead through a corner from Spencer, which was bulleted home from five yards by McCulloch, with the Celtic defence looking for someone to blame. However, Celtic were not behind for long and within four minutes parity was established once again.

A Thompson free kick curled across the penalty box and the Mjallby combined with Valgaeren as if the pair were strikers rather than centre backs. The Swede headed to the big Belgian international, who headed home from a few yards out. It was a goal typical of the big physical sides that Martin O’Neill cultivated.

Celtic had their tails up now and incredibly, the defenders were at the forefront of Celtic’s attack once more, as Mjallby was denied another goal when it was deemed that Martin Corrigan’s clearance had prevented the ball from crossing the goal-line.

Soon after, Agathe embarked on a trademark run and supplied a fine pass to Henrik Larsson, whose shot flew across the face of goal. Then, with 20 minutes remaining, Celtic went in front again when McNamara surged forward and split the home defence wide open. The Celtic hero seemed to stumble and mis-hit his shot after playing a neat one-two on the edge of the box. But it ended up in the goal and that’s all that matters.

With the Hoops overcoming a deficit and finally getting back into the lead, it seemed that they would secure the points. However, Mjallby was involved in the thick of the action one more time – bundling over Goodman to give away a cheap penalty in the 77th minute. Up stepped Brannan to thump home the equaliser.

The 3-3 draw meant Celtic gained a point in the title race and moved three clear of Hibernian in second spot.