REPUBLIC of Ireland international Daryl Murphy’s penalty allowed Celtic to bounce back from their Europa League humbling in Utrecht as they edged past Motherwell at Fir Park yesterday.
A much-changed Celtic side had the better of the clash and lead the league on goal difference but struggled to get past goalkeeper Darren Randolph before the influential Shaun Maloney won a penalty from Steven Saunders.
Saunders was sent off and Motherwell failed to recover from the blow as Murphy stroked home the 73rd-minute spot-kick.
Neil Lennon made five changes to the team that were dumped 4-0 in Holland last Thursday as he handed debuts to Fraser Forster and Emilion Izaguirre.
On-loan Newcastle goalkeeper Forster had very little to do while Honduras left-back Izaguirre looked agile in defence and attack.
Glenn Loovens, Maloney and Murphy also came in and Efrain Juarez, Jos Hooiveld and Beram Kayal dropped to the bench, with Marc Antoine-Fortune having left for West Brom since Celtic threw away their two-goal lead to exit before the group stages.
Meanwhile, Kenny Miller came to the rescue with the winner for Rangers against St Johnstone as he maintained his record of scoring in every game in the league so far this season.
Saints had taken a shock lead at Ibrox through Danny Grainger, before Sasa Papac restored parity with a little help from defender Kevin Rutkiewicz.
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