Sunday the 25th of November was the date that the Betfred Cup final was held. The game was between Celtic Football Club and Motherwell Football Club, and overall it was a fairly exciting game.
The first half was definitely in favor for Motherwell. They totally dominated Celtic and clearly showed that they wanted the win. However the second half consisted of 2 goals, both scored by Celtic.
The first goal, scored by James Forrest was a very neat finish into the bottom left corner. He celebrated in style, grabbing the crest on his shirt and making his way towards the 37,000 Celtic fans.
The second goal was an extremely controversial penalty, as Scott Sinclair made his way into the box in hope of a second goal for his team. It was minimal contact from Motherwell full back Cedric Kipre that saw the Celtic winger fall to the ground. Kipre was shown a straight red card for his ‘awful’ tackle on Sinclair. In the eyes of a Celtic fan like myself, this was a horrible decision by referee Craig Thomson. Kipre should not have been sent off, never mind the penalty that was wrongly awarded. Nevertheless, Dembele slotted the penalty straight down the middle of the goal, giving Celtic a two goal advantage.
The win over Motherwell at Hampden saw Celtic win their first trophy in 6 months. If Motherwell had won on Sunday they would have received their first trophy in 26 years, so it was a pretty devastating loss for the Steelmen.
I do believe if Craig Thomson did not award the penalty, the game could have gone either way. After conceding the penalty and being brought down to 10 men, the moral of the Motherwell team drastically decreased. This the caused them to be trying not to concede any more goals rather than try to bring the game back for at least a draw.
Reece Larkins
Good reporting Reece, your mixture of the partisan and objective reporting comes across very well.
Thanks!