Sat May 3 12:14:04 2008

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Celtic goes eight points clear with win over Motherwell

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Motherwell, Scotland (Sports Network) - Georgios Samaras scored in the 79th minute to give Celtic a 2-1 win over Motherwell at Fir Park Stadium on Saturday, allowing the Hoops to open up an eight-point lead on Rangers.

However, Celtic is far from favored to claim a third straight title as Rangers still has four games in hand, including Sunday's trip to Hibernian.

Chris Porter put Motherwell up a goal in the 60th minute, but Celtic's Scott McDonald scored his league-leading 25th goal of the campaign before Samaras rescued all three points with 11 minutes to play.

A ragged first half produced little in the way of chances, but the game finally came to life in the second half, with Motherwell striking first.

Brian McLean's cross from the right wing was driven into the middle of the box, where Porter beat Celtic's Bobo Balde to the ball and nodded it past goalkeeper Artur Boruc to make it 1-0 to the hosts.

It didn't take long for Celtic to get back on level terms as the Hoops evened the match at 1-1 just one minute later. McDonald took advantage of some poor defending by Motherwell to get on the other end of Shunsuke Nakamura's cross and head it home from a few yards.

A draw would not do Celtic a lot of good, and the team responded with a second goal from its first corner kick of the match. Barry Robson swung a cross into the box and the ball somehow made its way through a pack of defenders and was knocked into the back of the net from close range by Samaras.

Motherwell had one final chance to equalize but Boruc did well to tip Porter's shot past the post and Celtic held on for a vital win.

Dundee United had a chance to take over third place with Motherwell's defeat, but they too suffered a 2-1 loss as Aberdeen got goals from Richard Foster and Karim Touzani.

Inverness pounded Gretna 6-1 with four goals in the second half, and Will Haining tallied the lone goal in stoppage time as St Mirren downed Kilmarnock 1-0.