Motherwell 2-3 Celtic: Ice-Cold Kelechi Iheanacho Delivers Final Day Dogfight for Title

Celtic kept within a point of Hearts with the last kick of their 3-2 away win at Motherwell to ramp up the excitement going into the final game of the Premiership season. Kelechi Iheanacho came off the bench to be the hero once more, netting from the spot following the awarding of a penalty that has been labelled ‘disgusting’ by Hearts’ boss Derek McInnes. The Gorgie side would have won the title tonight had Celtic lost, with Hearts cruising to a 3-0 win over Falkirk at Tynecastle. But now the title race will come to a conclusion this Saturday at Celtic Park, with Hearts knowing anything other than defeat will bring the Premiership trophy outside of Glasgow for the first time since 1985. Elliot Watt sent Fir Park and Tynecastle into raptures with his opener from the edge of the box 17 minutes in. The ball fell to the Englishman, whose effort seemed to take a knick on its way beyond Vilijami Sinisalo in the Celtic net. The message made its way East and the league leaders responded by going two goals in front, making them champions as things stood. However, Celtic’s Daizen Maeda burst through and fired home his 7th goal in five games to restore parity just before half-time, and keep the defending champions in the title picture. The Glasgow club would then go ahead just before the hour mark courtesy of a wonder goal from top scorer Benjamin Nygren. The Swede found the top corner of Calum Ward’s left hand side from a couple yards outside the box to bring his tally up to 21 for the season so far. Motherwell pushed for a way back into the game in the final quarter of an hour, and would get what many believed would be the equaliser through former Hearts youth player Liam Gordon. A stramash ensued with Sinisalo and his defence throwing themselves in front of the ball, but Gordon was in the right place at the right time to tap in to an empty net. With news coming through that Hearts were 3-0 up now against Falkirk, the Celtic faithful knew the uphill task ahead of them if they went into Saturday on the back of a draw. Yet in the final minute of added time, an Anthony Ralston throw looked to have been headed away by another former Hearts man in Sam Nicholson. Andrew Dallas recommended an on-field review, and John Beaton pointed to the spot after replays suggested to him that the midfielder had used his arm in the clearance. Kelechi Iheanacho stepped up, and calmly sent Ward the wrong way as his penalty nestled in the bottom left corner to the tune of the final whistle. Debate will rage on all the way until, and perhaps even beyond, Saturday’s title decider whether or not the penalty should have been awarded. But the story is set now. Celtic vs Hearts. One game with history on the line. A Hearts win or draw and the capital city side win their first league title since 1960. A Celtic win, and they become champions for the 56th time.