Three big points leaves Celtic fans eyeing one ground in particular. Fir Park.

Ever since the post-split fixtures were announced, I’ve had my eye on one Celtic game. Just one. It is not because I worry about it. It is not because it is the one where I fear us slipping up, because we could have slipped up today. We could slip up next week at home against the Ibrox club.

But if we do not slip up, the game I have been thinking about for weeks is the second-last game of the season. Motherwell away.

Why is it Motherwell away that tugs at my consciousness?

Why is that the game I keep coming back to?

I’ll tell you why.

Next weekend, we play the Ibrox club at home. Hearts go to Motherwell the night before. If Hearts and the Ibrox club draw tomorrow, and Motherwell can do us a favour next weekend, then Celtic have a clear route in front of us. Win at home, beat Motherwell away, and we will either be Scottish Premiership champions that night or within touching distance of finishing the job at Celtic Park.

The next two games at Fir Park could help decide this league all on their own.

For weeks now I’ve been doing my back-of-a-fag-packet calculations based on when the Ibrox club is written out of the script. I’ve been quietly confident of two things; that Hearts will slip before the final day and that if we get our form right we’ll win it. I’ve not given much thought to when we might clinch it. Motherwell dropped points yesterday, so they are not in great form. But they save their big moments for big games.

I’ve not been able to shake the thought that Fir Park is where this title race pivots for us.

Allow me to explain my thinking.

That was a big three points for us today.

As we all said at the start of the game, the performance was the least important thing in the world. The result was all that mattered. From here on in, the results are all that matter, but I see plenty of reasons to be optimistic.

Not because of our performances, but because of the results. Sky Sports put up a nice wee graphic showing Martin’s record since returning. We’ve dropped points in four matches. Let’s take a look at what those games were.

We have suffered one really serious defeat with no excuses since Martin O’Neill returned as manager. One. That came in a game where we simply did not show up for business, and that was the match against Dundee United at Tannadice.

The Hibs defeat at home was a poor one, but there were extenuating circumstances. Trusty got sent off when we were on top of the game and looked as if we would win it. At Tynecastle, we were 2-1 up when Trusty got sent off, and Hearts did not score until there were only minutes left.

The only other points O’Neill has dropped since coming back were the two we dropped at Ibrox, while also depriving them of two, when we came back from 2-0 down to mount a superb second-half performance.

I am not saying the Hibs defeat was not a blow. I am not saying dropping points at Ibrox and that night at Tynecastle did not hurt us. Of course they did.

But we are still in this.

Some might even say we have a slight advantage now going into these final three fixtures. Those final three games are all against top-four sides, so nobody should pretend this is easy. But two of them are at home, and that is where our shot is.

We should have won that night at Tynecastle. We would have won at Ibrox if that game had lasted another ten minutes. I think we will beat both of those teams at Celtic Park. The one that intrigues me is Motherwell away.

Not just because their record at home is good, but because I genuinely think we could go into that night with a chance to clinch it. If we win next weekend, and if Motherwell have already taken something from Hearts, that match at Fir Park becomes enormous.

Three points there could possibly win us the title, depending on what happens between Hearts and Falkirk. Even if we cannot quite get over the line that night, a win at Fir Park could leave us needing only a draw at home to Hearts on the final day.

If that is the situation, then I know where I would rather be.

Later on, I am going to talk about some of the individual performances today, and some of the individual moments in the game. But let me just say this now: I am delighted with the three points. It means everything to have secured that crucial first away victory after the split, and this title race is still very much in our own hands.

Against ten men today, it would have been good to crack on and punish Hibs properly. It would have been good to reduce the goal difference deficit. But I have never really thought this was going to come down to goal difference anyway.

This is going to come down to nerve. The pressure is where it belongs now: on both of our title rivals.

The Ibrox club knows that if it does not win at Tynecastle, then it is as good as over for them. Anything other than an Ibrox win means they leave the ground at least three points behind Celtic and still a minimum of four behind Hearts. It means we can turn their lights out next weekend at Celtic Park, as far as their chances in the title race go.

They have to win tomorrow to prevent the Armageddon scenario.

Do not let any of them kid you that they would celebrate a Hearts title win either. They would not celebrate Hearts winning the league any more than we would. Anything other than your own name on the trophy does not count. You still leave the final day, if someone else lifts it, feeling sick to your stomach.

But the stage is now set for our mighty finish to this campaign.

Tomorrow night is a big one. There is no question about that.

The ideal scenario is for both sides to drop points. That would leave Hearts one ahead of us and four ahead of the Ibrox club, while leaving us three clear of Ibrox going into the Celtic Park game. Then we can put them away ourselves.

But the night before that game, Hearts have to go to Motherwell.

That is where the real hinge moment in this title race might be.

If Motherwell beat Hearts, and Celtic beat the Ibrox club, in the outlined scenario, where tomorrow night is a draw, we go top next Sunday. If Celtic then beat Motherwell at Fir Park, we move to 79 points. Then it comes down to Hearts against Falkirk that night. If Falkirk take anything from that game, Celtic are champions before the final day.

If Hearts win it, then fine. We go into the final match at Celtic Park two points clear, needing a draw to be champions. That is not a bad position. That is not one I would fear.

Hearts would have to come to Celtic Park and beat us to take the title. They would have to walk into our house and rip it from our hands.

I do not see that happening. Not if we have done the work before then and if we have the momentum.

Not if we have reached that final day with the trophy sitting there, waiting for us to put the ribbons on it.

We have done our bit today.

Tomorrow night, we will see what the other two teams can do.

But I think Motherwell are going to play a starring role in the next fortnight. Their ground is where this thing might finally turn. Fir Park is where Hearts could stumble. Fir Park is where Celtic could step forward. It is where this title race might end.

Maybe we win it there. Maybe we make it inevitable there. Either way, Motherwell away has been the game I have been watching for weeks.

Now everyone else might be watching it too.

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