Obika heads home to claim dramatic late point for Motherwell at Celtic
Jonathan Obika headed a late equaliser as the champions were held to a home draw. Substitute David Turnbull opened the scoring for the Premiership leaders with an 86th-minute penalty, but Motherwell stunned Celtic Park in the 90th minute when Obika glanced home a Blair Spittal corner.
Luis Palma had a penalty saved by Liam Kelly as Celtic struggled to break down a dogged Motherwell side, who restricted their hosts to few chances, although Yang Hyun-jun missed a gilt-edged opportunity as Celtic dominated the second half.
Motherwell survived 10 minutes of added time to get their second draw in succession here and only a third point in their past 10 matches.
Motherwell also came within seconds of getting a point against Celtic at Fir Park during that run, only for Matt O’Riley to score moments after Spittal had equalised.
Kelly made two good stops early on, from O’Riley’s first-time strike and a header from his teammate Stephen O’Donnell as he defended Palma’s in-swinging corner.
The visitors protected Kelly for most of the first period, though, and grew in confidence towards the end of the half.
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O’Donnell had an effort cleared from the goalmouth by Cameron Carter-Vickers, with Joe Hart stranded after a ball over the top, before Dan Casey fired over from the loose ball.
The Celtic keeper then produced a diving parry from Harry Paton’s well-struck effort from 20 yards.
Brendan Rodgers decided a half-time change was needed and brought on striker Oh Hyeon-gyu for midfielder Odin Thiago Holm.
After a scrappy start to the second half, Furuhashi sparked the move that led to Celtic’s first penalty in the 66th minute when he won the ball on the halfway line and drove forward before releasing Palma.
Celtic brought on Turnbull and Mikey Johnston in the immediate aftermath of Palma’s miss.
It was one-way traffic now and Johnston set up a glorious chance for Yang as the South Korean ran into the middle to meet the winger’s cross. But he sent his free header wide of a post.
After looking at the incident on the monitor, the referee, Steven McLean, judged that Butcher had held back Johnston in the box and
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Turnbull dispatched the penalty.
Obika scored the equaliser from Motherwell’s only second-half effort at goal.
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The Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers told the BBC: “We’re disappointed. We had enough opportunities to win the game, over 80% possession. We didn’t create as much as we’d like but the chances we had should have been enough. A draw at home always feels like a defeat.”
The Motherwell manager, Stuart Kettlewell, was understandably satisfied with the result: “It’s a point gained, I’m obviously delighted with it. What you have to be when you come here is together.
“We showed everybody today that we’re united. We’re moving in the same direction. We have to make this is the catalyst for what comes next.”