Celtic overcame Motherwell in emphatic fashion on Sunday afternoon, overcoming the Steelmen 3-0 to keep themselves neck-to-neck with Aberdeen at the top of the Scottish Premier League.
While it may have been an emphatic win for the Glasgow outfit, Brendan Rodgers and even Heimir Hallgrímsson will be hoping it hasn't come at the cost of Adam Idah, who was the victim of an unnecessarily 'shocking challenge' well into injury time.
Idah was one of Celtic's three goal scorers today, adding to Luke McGowan and Alistair Johnston's earlier goals with an 88th-minute screamer.
🍀 He's done it again!
Like he did last season, Adam Idah scores at Fir Park and makes it THREE for Celtic ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/G91OuXrnWR— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) October 27, 2024
However, Idah's goal was overshadowed by a lunging tackle that rolled the Irish forward's ankle just minutes later. While Idah played out the remaining few minutes of injury-time, the tackle sparked injury concerns among the Celtic management.
Following what appeared to be an unnecessarily arduous VAR review, Motherwell's Liam Gordon had his yellow card upgraded to a red one for the tackle.
😬 "That's a shocker!"
Liam Gordon's yellow card is upgraded to a red and Motherwell will end the game with 10 🟥 pic.twitter.com/DsXrnX5VzT— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) October 27, 2024
Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, however, Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell launched an ardent defence of Gordon, claiming his red card was 'unbelievably harsh'.
You know he (the referee) watches it that many times, there's the still images that we keep talking about that make things look a heck of a lot worse than they actually are. I think we can all see that Liam Gordon is at the very end of his stretch. I think Adam Idah is coming in at well at pace. The referee spoke about the kind of hinge in his ankle when there was contact made. I personally think it's really really harsh, I do, I think it's really harsh.
I understand how it can look on a still image, there wasn't an awful lot of force in the tackle, he's trying to get his toe under just to steal the ball. He slightly mistimes it, but you know it's one of those ones, now in modern football we all want to jump on it, we all want to say it's a red card, I think it's unbelievably harsh.
🟥 "I think it's unbelievably harsh"
Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell gives his thoughts on the defeat to Celtic & Liam Gordon's red card ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/g5pg8BSwIc— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) October 27, 2024
Neil Lennon and Kris Boyd slam 'shocking' challenge on Idah
While Stuart Kettlewell might have been defending Gordon's actions, both Neil Lennon and Kris Boyd were in no doubt that the tackle was more than deserving of a red card.
Speaking about the contest, former Rangers star Kris Boyd didn't feel the 'slowed down' angles had any negative impact on how the tackle came across, branding it as 'shocking'.
It's a shocking challenge, I mean he's lunging to start with then he catches him there. I hope he's (Idah) okay. You know when you've the adrenaline and you're still playing a game you can get away with things, but that is a shocking challenge. Forget even looking at it slowed down, it's a terrible tackle. He lunges in at him, catches him in the ankle, you can see (Idah's) ankle rolling there, it's just a straight red.
Former Celtic boss Neil Lennon was equally outraged by the tackle, hailing the intervention of VAR in having Gordon sent off and expressing concern for just how injured Idah could be.
VAR actually shows the damage that that tackle has done.
It's a lunge, it's studs up, and he's caught him on the ankle, there could be ligiment damage there, I know he played on with the adrenaline, but it'll be interesting to see if he's sore afterwards. He will be sore afterwards.
While Adam Idah did walk off the pitch and appeared to be in good spirits, Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers will be hoping the Corkonian's availability won't be impacted after today's tackle, especially as one of Celtic's busiest times of the season approaches.
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