Quinn’s strike stops Celtic going top

Celtic missed the opportunity to go above Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premier League yesterday when they drew 1-1 at Motherwell.

The defending champions, who are going for a fourth straight title, led through Scott McDonald’s 13th goal of the season but Paul Quinn equalised with nine minutes left. McDonald scored in the 60th minute with a shot from the edge of the area that hit a bump and went over the goalkeeper’s leg before Quinn scored from 12 yards, leaving Celtic on 57 points, behind their fierce city rivals on goal difference. “We knew we had to win to stay in front and we’ve got a title race on now,” Celtic defender Gary Caldwell said. Rangers took top spot on Saturday by coming from behind to win 3-1 against visiting Kilmarnock.

Celtic manager Gordon Strachan had no complaints about his side’s performance but admitted a lack of goals has been a problem. “I said, ‘Well done’, to my players – I thought they were excellent,” he said.

“They had a lot of chances and allowed them to have one shot at goal, which isn’t bad when you are away from home. They did a lot right and it would have been difficult to pick a man of the match from my team. There is a lot going right at the moment but the team who has scored the most goals this season is top of the League and that’s the way football is meant to work. We can’t complain about that. Once we start scoring goals again, we will make it a right good race.”

On the title race, he added: “We just have to concentrate on what we are doing. If you think about last season, we had more goals than Rangers and it’s a big thing. We have done a lot of things right this year but on the goalscoring front we haven’t been at our best.”