Celtic’s Kelechi Iheanacho scored a controversial penalty with the last kick of the game to secure a 3-2 win at Motherwell on Wednesday, sending the Scottish Premiership title race to a final-day showdown against leaders Heart of Midlothian.
With Hearts beating Falkirk 3-0 at home and Celtic being held after Motherwell’s Liam Gordon scored an 85th-minute equaliser at Fir Park, a first title in 66 years was within touching distance for the Edinburgh club.
Had it stayed like that, Celtic would have needed to beat Hearts by a three-goal margin at home on Saturday.
But deep in stoppage time, Motherwell’s Sam Nicholson headed away a ball into the area but was adjudged by referee John Beaton, after a VAR check and him viewing a pitch-side monitor, to have brushed the ball with his raised hand despite no Celtic player appealing for it.
Under enormous pressure, Iheanacho stayed ice cool to slot his kick past keeper Calum Ward to spark a pitch invasion by delirious Celtic fans and take an epic title race to a climax on Saturday where Hearts will need a draw to become the first team other than Celtic or Rangers to be champions since 1985.
While Celtic manager Martin O’Neill praised his side’s never-say-die spirit, Hearts manager Derek McInnes, having watched the video of Celtic’s penalty, struggled to contain his anger.
“It’s disgusting. We’re up against everybody. I don’t think it’s a penalty,” he told Sky Sports. “It’s so poor and it looks as though (Celtic) have been given it.
“They are very fortunate. It’s going to the last game. We’re delighted to be part of it. We’re going to have to go and get a positive result. What a game it’s going to be.”
Motherwell manager Jens Berthel Askou described the penalty decision as “shocking”. “I can’t see any paragraph in the rule book that can lead to that being a penalty,” he said.
Hearts have 80 points from 37 games so far, with Celtic, who have won six league games in a row, on 79 points.
Goals by Frankie Kent, Cammy Devlin and Blair Spittal earned Hearts the points at Tynecastle where fans were glued to their phones checking on events 40 miles away.
They cheered when news of Elliot Watt’s opening goal for Motherwell came through and when Kent sent a bullet header into Falkirk’s net after 29 minutes and Devlin made it 2-0 to Hearts with a deflected shot, the mood was ecstatic.
Some Hearts fans were even shedding tears of joy although when Celtic equalised at Motherwell through Daizen Maeda the mood was dampened slightly.
An eerie silence descended on Tynecastle for much of the second half after Benjamin Nygren’s stunning second goal for Celtic changed the dynamics.
All that mattered then was what was happening at Fir Park where Motherwell were laying siege to the Celtic goal.
Motherwell hit the crossbar with a deflected Elliot Watt strike with Tawanda Maswanhise’s rebound saved by Viljami Sinisalo.
Gordon’s equaliser for Motherwell had the Hearts fans dancing again but their joy turned to disbelief as events unfolded elsewhere that will raise the ghosts of the last time Hearts were so close to the title.
Forty years ago Hearts arrived at the final day of the 1985-86 season unbeaten in 27 league games, two points ahead of Celtic and requiring just a draw at Dundee to win the trophy.
Instead, Celtic fan Albert Kidd scored two late goals to give Dundee a 2-0 win at Dens Park and Celtic romped to 5-0 victory against St Mirren to snatch the title on goal difference and leave Hearts broken.
Reuters.
