Celtic cruise to comfortable win at Motherwell to return to Premiership summit

Luke McCowan scored on his first start for Celtic as the champions went back top of the William Hill Premiership with a 3-0 win at Motherwell.

Lennon Miller had twice hit the frame of the goal for the hosts before McCowan nicked the ball past Kofi Balmer and drilled into the bottom corner from 18 yards out to open the scoring in the 27th minute.

Alistair Johnston headed the visitors two up 11 minutes into the second half and they went on to enjoy their most comfortable win at Fir Park under Brendan Rodgers as Adam Idah netted late on.

Motherwell had centre-back Liam Gordon receive a VAR-assisted red card in stoppage time to round off their misery.

Rodgers had seen his team held to three draws on six previous visits and each of the three victories had come courtesy of stoppage-time winners.

The latest trip could have been similar if Motherwell had converted one of their early chances but Celtic never looked back following McCowan’s opener and moved back above Aberdeen on goal difference.

The Celtic boss went into this game without captain Callum McGregor, who missed out with a hip strain, while Nicolas Kuhn and Arne Engels dropped to the bench.

Marvin Kaleta and Tom Sparrow came into the Motherwell team and the home side had the better chances in the opening quarter with Miller at the heart of all the action.

The 18-year-old hit a post from 22 yards out with Kasper Schmeichel stranded after Paulo Bernardo had lost the ball deep in his half. Moments later the midfielder hit the bar after winning a free-kick 25 yards out.

Miller also twice threatened from back-post headers and set up Sparrow with a backheel. The former Stoke player drove his shot straight into the body of Schmeichel.

Daizen Maeda had forced a save from Aston Oxborough and James Forrest had some crosses cut out but Celtic were generally struggling to make the most of their superior possession until McCowan collected Alex Valle’s pass and took matters into his own hands.

Celtic had the ball in the net again before half-time but nobody celebrated amid sheer confusion around the ground after Maeda bundled home as he fell to the ground following Johnston’s through ball.

Referee David Dickinson had no idea what to give and allowed video assistant Alan Muir to make the call. There were suspicions of a push from Stephen O’Donnell on Maeda but the final call was a free-kick to Motherwell for handball against the Japan forward.

Motherwell left-back Ewan Wilson was off target from a half chance before Johnston ran towards the six-yard line to head home Valle’s cross.

That goal more or less finished the game as a contest. Motherwell could not find the final ball to trouble Celtic with any of their attacks and the visitors continued to look threatening.

Reo Hatate came close on several occasions, Oxborough made a triple save, two of which came from McCowan shots, and Idah hit the post before turning home fellow substitute Kuhn’s low cross from six yards in the 88th minute.

Gordon was booked for a lunging tackle on Idah before Dickinson was called to the monitor and subsequently upgraded the colour of the card.