By Graham Barnstaple
May 22 2011

Celtic’s 3-0 win over Motherwell in the Scottish Cup Final secured Neil Lennon’s first trophy as Celtic Manager.

Lennon’s side were on the front foot from the start and Hooper hit the bar in the opening two minutes but was in an offside position which was spotted by the assistant ref.

The next few minutes of the game were marred by some ugly tackles with the ref having to flash four yellow cards. Two of them were lucky not to see red with high challenges from Lasley and Majstorovic.

Celtic took the lead in 32 minutes thanks to great strike from Ki, the Korean was given too much space at the edge of the box but his shot was true and left Randolph with no chance.

The ref then had a spell he will not remember fondly, firstly he chose not to give a second yellow to Majstorovic for a deliberate handball. He compounded this by not taking any action when Stephen Craigan clearly handled the ball on the ground at the edge of his own box.

The game was finely balanced as it headed into the final 15 minutes but Celtic received a huge slice of luck to seal the tie. Wilson struck a shot from about 15 yards out and it looked to be heading wide before hitting Craigan and beating the committed Randolph.

They put the icing on the cake with two minutes left when Mulgrew’s free kick screamed past Randolph and high into his top corner.

The game was never a classic with both sets of players struggling to pass the ball on a slick, rain soaked Hampden pitch. Motherwell never hit any of the heights they have during the season while Celtic were efficient enough on the day to exploit the weaknesses of their opponents.