You are in > manchester.com  > News > Celtic maintain pressure on Rangers in push for title

General Sport

Celtic maintain pressure on Rangers in push for title

03/05/2008

Celtic maintained their push for the Scottish Premier League title with a 2-1 victory over Motherwell at Fir Park.

The Bhoys had to come from behind but are now eight points ahead of their city rivals, although Walter Smith's men do have four more games in hand.

Motherwell had managed to snatch a victory when the sides played at Parkhead at the start of April but since then Gordon Strachan's men had exacted revenge with a 4-1 win.

This game therefore became an encounter between two sides that knew each other very well, the result being little in the way of goalmouth action.

Motherwell kept possession much better than they had in the last game between the two teams and were able to keep Celtic at arms length.

The home side took the lead midway though the second half when Chris Porter headed home to end a flowing move by the 'Well.

However their lead did not last more than 60 seconds and former Motherwell striker Scott McDonald finished Shunsuke Nakamura's accurate cross at the far post.

Georgios Samaras then won the match for the Bhoys when he headed in a corner from close range after losing his marker.

Motherwell pushed hard for an equaliser in the closing stages but Celtic's defence held firm to stretch their lead at the top of the table.

In the race for third place Aberdeen kept their hopes alive with a 2-1 win over Dundee United. Richard Foster opened the scoring for the Dons only for Danny Swanson to equalise within minutes. Finally Karim Touzani's first ever goal for Aberdeen won the game.

Towards the foot of the table Will Haining's last-minute goal handed St Mirren a 1-0 over Kilmarnock while Inverness trounced relegated Gretna 6-1.