THE cliche insists that life begins at 40 but Ronny Deila, on his 39th birthday, knows that something of substance has to be achieved in his day job some time before that dateline.
The Celtic manager's celebrations will have been muted last night. There was no rousing chorus of happy birthday at Celtic Park, rather a chorus of disaffection after a performance that lurched between lethargy and incompetence with only a faint icing of genuine quality.
Deila and his team have yet to convince, certainly in a consistent manner, and the Celtic manager will be grateful for Brian Colvin's decision to award the penalty in the second half that gave his side an equaliser that had always seemed to be beyond them until that point.
The referee's decision might not have constituted a gift but it was generous. Scott Brown seemed to be on the way down after being hit by Keith Lasley outside the box before a subsequent collision with Josh Law resulted in the Celtic captain going to ground.
Kris Commons, like Brown a second-half substitute, converted the penalty to nullify John Sutton's first-half strike. A point was thus made but the questions remain.
Celtic were awful in the first half and frantic, lacking composure, in the second period. Stuart McCall set up his team with a customary discipline and rigour and was rewarded with a doughty performance.
With Lasley organising in front of the back four and Sutton proving a lightning rod for balls forward, Motherwell were brisk in both addressing threats and occasionally creating them.
Celtic were bereft of inspiration until the introduction of Commons and Brown, and even then the champions were far from irresistible.
Motherwell came to Glasgow as the third best team in the league rather than the high flyers of recent seasons. This performance will have drained them physically but given them confidence for the trials ahead.
Celtic, in contrast, need to find a successful rhythm in the league. A draw in Salzburg in the Europa League can be considered a creditable result. A draw at Celtic Park against Motherwell is not and the champions now lie five points off the lead in the SPFL Premiership.
There is no need quite yet to press the panic alarm but there is cause for concern and it was expressed loudly and regularly by the Celtic support in a 41,719 crowd.
Celtic may have been frenetic in the second half but they were listless in the first period. This initial lethargy was all the more baffling given that Deila had stood down six of those who had started in Salzburg. Craig Gordon, Stefan Johansen, Kris Commons, Scott Brown, Wakaso Mubarak and Stefan Scepovic were all missing at the start of the match. So, some cynics would suggest, were their replacements.
Motherwell were comfortable in that first 45 and deservedly ahead at half-time through a Sutton strike. The big English striker could have punished Celtic further but sclaffed his shot in front of goal. His emphatic volley after a fine Craig Reid cross was, in contrast, accurate and unsaveable.
The goal started with Anthony Stokes, who endured a feckless afternoon, losing the ball in midfield. This was an emblem of the lacklustre performance from the champions. They marched on Motherwell rather than ran. McCall had put out a side with his trademark attention to detail and Celtic could not pick the pass or stretch the lines.
The best opportunities for Celtic in the first half were restricted to a Biram Kayal shot that drifted past and a header from Virgil van Dijk that Dan Twardzik scrambled for a corner.
The torrent of boos at half-time was replaced by a cheer of hope as Brown and Commons replaced the ineffective Aleksandar Tonev and the underachieving Kayal.
Both had an immediate impact. Commons twisted and turned but made no tangible progress in terms of the scoreline for Celtic. Brown drove through the massed ranks of the Motherwell lines on one occasion but ran out of grass.
However, both played a significant role in the equaliser after 67 minutes. Brown again ran at pace into the box and was brushed by Lasley and collided with Law with a penalty being awarded to the disgust of the Motherwell players. Commons sent Twardzik the wrong way.`
Celtic's urgency then increased. Callum McGregor, an energetic figure throughout, had a deflected shot saved and then clipped a post after neat interplay. John Guidetti, who showed glimpses of a threat rather than anything of substance, was removed with 15 minutes remaining to be replaced by Scepovic who was similarly inconspicuous, although he should have scored with a header from six yards that fell into the arms of Twardzik.
The game ended with Celtic pushing forward but with little hope, certainly in the stands, of a winner. Indeed, Motherwell could have snatched victory late on when Zaine Francis-Angol clipped a Law cross over the bar from 10 yards.
Deila was spared that fate on his birthday. He will have had better ones, though.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article