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Sport
Andy McGilvray

Celtic clash was a wasted opportunity for points, says Motherwell boss

Motherwell boss Stevie Hammell says his side's performance in their 2-1 defeat to 10-man Celtic was acceptable, but feels it was a wasted opportunity to take something from the Scottish champions.

Motherwell put Ange Postecoglou's side under pressure in spells during the game, but Hammell says they didn't do it often enough or fast enough to make an impact.

Kyogo's 15th-minute opener was levelled in bizarre circumstances as Josip Juranovic scored an own-goal while trying to chest the ball back to goalkeeper Joe Hart.

Reo Hatate bagged a scoring winner for Celtic, before captain Callum McGregor was shown a straight red card for hauling back Ross Tierney as the Motherwell sub bore down on goal.

Hammell said: "We're coming away disappointed. I feel frustrated a little bit, I felt especially in the latter part of the game we could have been a bit better.

"We posed some threats there, but the big moments, the big chances, and the fine details when you come to places like this need to be better, and I felt that was the difference.

Hammell says Callum McGregor's red card was a 'good' one from Celtic's perspective (SNS Group)

"They're going to have possession and things like that but we don't want to hold out.

"We understand what we're up against in terms of the opposition, the crowd and the occasion, but we needed to stand up to that and be better than that.

"I felt that we did that for parts of the game, but just those little bits towards the end we could have been a little bit more clinical and a little bit tidier in our play, and we could easily be coming away with something here, I feel.

"Ultimately it has been an acceptable performance, but not resulting in any points, unfortunately.

"I feel like whenever we stretched them or pressed them properly, got after the ball, we caused them problems, but the plan was to come away from here with something and we've not, so that's where the disappointment comes from."

On McGregor's red card with two minutes of normal time remaining, Hammell said: "It's a good red card from their point of view. Ross Tierney is in, I think Joe Hart is in a bit of no-man's land, where he feels he's not sure.

Motherwell players celebrate their gifted goal against Celtic (SNS Group)

"We felt like we could have hurt them in areas, and I felt like we did, but we didn't do it often enough, quick enough, especially in the latter stages of the game when they're hanging on.

"They've seen the game out, they're clever."

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