Motherwell boss 'not looking over his shoulder' after 'brave' Celtic draw

Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell says his side were brave to stand up to champions Celtic as they fought out a 1-1 draw at Celtic Park.

And he says they’re not looking back over their shoulder at what others in the Premiership bottom six are doing.

Kevin van Veen’s 55th-minute strike levelled Callum McGregor’s deflected opener midway through the first half and saw the Steelmen take the first Premiership point from the Glasgow cauldron this season.

Kettlewell says his side stood up to the challenge and merited their draw.

He said: “We always use this word bravery but it was that for me. I felt that we stood up to certain situations defensively, but I thought we could be more aggressive, in terms of dealing with those one on one duels, but also how we commit to those attacks.

“We had a little bit of a game-plan, at times, where we could leave Kevin up there, and we thought it might come as a one on one situation, especially from set plays, and it comes up trumps for us.

“It comes up trumps because we know his quality but that’s the level of work that you’re going into.

“You’re looking to these specific moments but you need players to execute it and I thought our guys were excellent at that.”

Kettlewell is under no doubt about the quality that Celtic have, and says the result and performance should show his young players just now good they are.

He said: “I’ve been so complimentary about what I believe Celtic are, what they do, and what the manager here produces and what he gets out of his players – the quality of football here is unbelievable.

“Probably for me it takes it that wee stage further, to come here through the record that they have, the form that they’re in, and the quality of player that we have.

“We keep