Highlights- watch that Reo Hatate goal that sent Celtic clear at the top again

Celtic got there in the end but pretty much everything that could have gone wrong against Motherwell did. The only thing missing was that there appears to have been no major injury picked up.

Own goal- tick, sending off- tick, striking the woodwork- tick, denied an obvious penalty- tick but at the end of the 90 plus minutes the points were secured and a return to top place with the first win since the September 3 Glasgow derby.

Motherwell forced Stephen Welsh into a timely interception in the first minute which was perhaps a signal that other team s had taken note of the St Mirren approach that yielded three points in the last SPFL weekend.

There were a few near things before Jota’s 14th minute cross was headed powerflly by Matt O’Riley, when Liam Kelly got a block of sorts on it Kyogo Furuhashi smashed the ball into the net almost on the goal-line.

Josip Juranovic sent a free kick against the bar but in the 36th minute communication errors saw him chest the ball into his own net with Joe Hart anticipating a cross.

The first home goal conceded in the SPFL Premiership knocked Celtic out of their stride, Motherwell drew some confidence with an edge missing from the play of the homeside.

Midway through the second half Reo Hatate fired in a brilliant 25-yarder to restore Celtic’s lead but there were still difficulties to overcome.

John Beaton opted not to award Celtic a 72nd minute penalty and reduce Motherwell to 10 men when Ricki Lamie raised his right hand to block a cross from Liel Abada.

A 3-1 lead against 10 men would hae resulted in the game comfortably being seen out, instead a misplaced pass from Hatate and Callum McGregor was shown a red card for a foul on Louis Moult, five extra minutes were played as Celtic dug in for three votal points to kick off an intensive period of fixtures.