GUTTED Gretna defender Evan Horwood yesterday admitted Celtic's last-minute winner at Fir Park was all his fault. Horwood put his hands up to being to blame as he played Scott McDonald onside as the ball broke to the Australian inside the box. A split second later, the Parkhead striker shot past keeper Greg Fleming to win the game 2-1. It was more than hard on the SPL's bottom club because they did not look like losing a game they had led for 85 minutes, until Chris Killen's headed equaliser and then McDonald's latest late heroics. Horwood had seemed set to be one of many heroes for Gretna when he somehow headed an effort from the Aussie off the line with 15 minutes to go. That left the Celtic fans thinking they were destined for another miserable day at Motherwell because their side weren't even average, never mind brilliant. But that was before a few mad minutes which will have kept everyone from the borders club awake long into the night. Horwood said: "I'm gutted. We hung on so long and then I stayed in at the last goal and that killed us. "Hopefully we can bounce back for our next game. If we had taken something out of the match against Celtic we would have been so happy and if we play like that next time, we will definitely win. "I thought we had beaten them but I stayed deep in the last minute and that cost us the game. McDonald was definitely onside. As the ball was played in, I saw him but I think I might have been abit tired. It was a hard game. "I apologised to the lads in the dressing room but I couldn't do anything about the result. I worked my socks off to be fair. We all did. "I made a good clearance earlier on and thought I might be able to do it a second time. But I saved one, then cost us another." Horwood tried to put on a brave face and, quite rightly, suggested the performance should give his team belief they belong in the top flight. But none of the Gretna players could hide their hurt as they collapsed onto the turf after the final whistle. Horwood said: "We are upbeat. We mixed it with the top team in Scotland and if we keep playing like that we will get out of the position we are in. We had a game plan beforehand and wanted to hold on as long as we could. "I don't think they deserved either of the goals. The stats will say they tortured us but I thought we all played well. They played AC Milan during the week and next it was little Gretna, so their attitude might have been different. We got at them and kept turning them because we didn't think their centre-halves would like being turned every five minutes. We rattled them until the 85th minute." Manager Davie Irons stood with his hands on his head for a good few minutes at the end, trying to make sense of what had happened. That disbelief was still evident when he spoke to the Press half an hour after the final whistle. Irons said: "Disappointment is an understatement. I thought we had taken something from the game. I really did. The lads were magnificent. "We don't have the best team in the world and never said we did. But everyone saw the effort and commitment of the boys and I was really proud of the way they performed. I really feel for them that they didn't come away with anything for it. "Our keeper didn't have much to do. I put that down to the fact we worked hard, were disciplined and the game plan worked a treat. The lads took on everything we asked them to do. "We went in front when Fabian Yantorno conjured up a bit of magic with his free-kick and as the clock ticks on you really do begin to believe you're going to get something. Unfortunately we didn't. "At 1-1, I wanted to hear the final whistle but even then I didn't see the second goal coming because we were defending really well. "At half-time, I said it would be even harder when we went back out as Celtic were going to come at us but I thought we defended superbly. "Chris Innes was magnificent, as were Craig Barr, Evan and Danny Grainger when he came on.They won 70 per cent of their challenges and the midfield worked their socks off. "But the Old Firm have won matches late on many times before and credit must go to Celtic because they kept going. They got the breaks at the end at it killed us. "I wasn't surprised by Celtic's performance because it is impossible for footballers to raise their game to that level days after their Champions League tie. Celtic played the biggest team in the world, then came to play the smallest team in the league." Irons also insisted Gretna can take plenty of positives from what turned out to be a wretched afternoon. He said: "We showed we can compete at this level. We have had our critics but this will show we are not that bad a side." Just an incredibly disappointed one. | 
SPL 
