THIS was one for the lovers.

For those who have endured the delights of an eight-hour round trip to Dingwall just to see a 0-0 draw. For the brave men, women and children who don’t need educated on the eloquent and noble art of berating half of your team for being pure mince on a Tuesday night at Gayfield without coughing up even a gram of scalding pie cremated on Satan’s own personal barbecue. It's moments like this that restores your faith in the tradition of scudding a bit of leather about a grassy patch in sub-zero temperatures for so-called fun.

It’s been a while since Scottish football gave those with the game closest to their hearts something to get their hearts racing and blood pumping. Well, apart from the news Crusaders would be playing in the Challenge Cup. Obviously.

It was not just Celtic fans that were surely basking in the wonder of this mesmerising 4-3 epic on Saturday lunchtime, a contest at Fir Park that saw the visitors come from behind twice to just about hold on to their unbeaten domestic record this season. This game was a triumph for all of Scottish football.

Too often those both inside and out of our game are quick to point to the fact it’s no good, the standard has dropped and that one’s afternoon would be better spent watching Stoke City v Burnley from the comfort of their bean bag than spend an afternoon frozen to the bone on a plastic seat somewhere in Fife. Savages. Only last week Graeme Souness spoke about he was saddened at how far ‘our game’ had slipped compared to that south of the border, held up by the billions poured in by his employers and their rivals. If the former Rangers manager was watching this spectacle, which was beamed live round the UK half an hour ahead of the diddy derby of Manchester City v Chelsea, then even he must have been heartened that there are signs of life in this old dog yet. Even if the end result secretly probably wasn’t to his taste.

Shock early leads, a flurry of goals, dramatic winners, a dollop of calamity, touchline bust-ups and a showcase of quality from both sides act as a beacon that even a one-horse race can still have mesmerising flashes of unpredictability and drama a Hollywood script writer would struggle to scrawl.

‘This is a game where defences are on top’ was wisely professed from along the row as Stuart Armstrong hit the sixth goal of the game and Celtic’s second equaliser on 72 minutes. Well quite. These occasions of brilliance have a tendency to occur around these parts. Twelve goals shared equally between Motherwell and Hibernian six years ago on this Fir Park surface is the first to spring to mind. Before that was the dramatic 2-1 ‘helicopter Sunday’ epic that decided the SPL title of 2005, while the first meeting the following season was played to a 4-4 conclusion on the opening day at Fir Park.

There are West End theatres that have not seen such drama over the years as the newly-christened John Hunter Stand and its over-populated pie queue, yet that will still be of little consolation to those no doubt still patiently standing in it this morning that their team could not cling to some sort of positive result.

"It's disappointing coming to talk,” said Stephen McManus, the Motherwell centre-half. “You've lost the game and sometimes when you go and get spanked by six, that's just as difficult to take. Trust me. Especially when you've put so much into the game.

“It’s great the game was on Sky Sports, it’s great you’ve seen a good spectacle, they’re the games people want to see.”

Motherwell now join an exclusive group of teams following Saturday’s result. Only Barcelona and Manchester City have taken three goals off the Ladbrokes Premiership champions this season, roundly predicted by virtually everyone to moonwalk to yet another league title. Their fans left Fir Park chanting about 10-in-a-row, but that is for another day.

However, their buoyant mood is a back-handed compliment to a Motherwell team that pushed them so hard and had their visitors rocked by an early goal after just three minutes. Without a doubt this was Celtic’s toughest test this season. With Aberdeen and Hearts tipped to be their nearest rivals, neither have been able to land a glove on them. The prosecution presents the Betfred Cup final DVD, your honour.

While McManus conceded afterwards it’s as difficult to take a last-minute loss as it is a 6-0 thrashing, on the flip side, Brendan Rodgers, his players and their supporters will take much more from this than any spanking dished out to a Premiership team of their choosing.

With dominance can come complacency but the Celtic manager will be reassured by the response from his team going in at half-time 2-0 down to come back, their adaptability to flourish in an altered second half formation with three at the back and their perseverance to push on through another Motherwell counter to earn their 12th win in 13 games.

“The gaffer made it clear the things he wasn’t happy with and we changed a few little things and the main thing was belief we could get something from the game and go on and push,” said Armstrong, the Celtic midfielder who grabbed the all-important third for the visitors. “For the second half we were very good in all aspects. We were disappointed to lose straight after equalising at 2-2, but it was entertaining for the fans and neutrals and our supporters really enjoyed our performance today despite a few scary moments.

“I don’t like making comparisons between old and new but we certainly have great belief in the gaffer right now and he also believes in us. That’s very important when you want to be a winning team. He knows how he wants to play and we’re doing our best to do that for him and ourselves. It was a great victory for all involved.”

This was the second meeting of Motherwell and Celtic this season, the first at Fir Park. The whole of Scottish football crosses its fingers the Lanarkshire club makes it into the top six so we get another.

Well, everyone except Hamilton then.