Stokes celebrates

By Graham Barnstaple
August 7 2011

Motherwell beat Hearts to stay top of the SPL this afternoon, while Celtic made it two wins in two by beating Aberdeen.

Celtic were first up this afternoon when they took onAberdeenat Pittodrie in only their second League game of the season.

The first half was a poor affair with Celtic being frustrated by a an Aberdeen side who were determined not to be embarrassed in the same way they had against Celtic last season.

The major talking point of the first half was an injury sustained by Izageurre as he went down under pressure from Pawlett. The Honduran was stretchered off and taken to hospital for X-rays.

Celtic only looked dangerous when they brought Anthony Stokes in from the wide left berth he had patrolled forlornly for long spells. He scored with with sixteen minutes left when he swept home a cross from Commons.

Aberdeenmay well see this as a moral victory but they have still only picked up one point out of the opening nine and look no better than last season. Celtic on the other hand will be happy with three points despite the loss of an important player through injury.

The following game atFirParkalso had a poor first half with both sides cancelling each other out. Having said that both Kello and Randolph were forced to pull out decent saves, with the Hearts keeper saving fromJenningsand the Well stopped keeping Driver out on two occasions.

The fireworks were kept for the second half, within five minutes Hearts were reduced to ten men when Ian Black was shown a straight red for a reckless tackle on Lasley.

Motherwell opened the scoring ten minutes later, Saunders sent a defence splitting pass through to Law who squared for Murphy who steadied himself before he slid the ball past Kello.

The home side held on comfortably enough despite also being reduced to ten men when Keith Lasley was shown a second yellow with only four minutes left.

Motherwell have now gone three games without losing a goal and are looking good as a team, but their squad is thin and therefore they must avoid suspension and injury.

On the other hand there is a lot of work for Hearts to put in if they are to fulfil the wishes of Vladimir Romanov and win the SPL. There will be a lot money needed to make this Hearts squad title winners.