WHERE to begin with this one?

This was as close as Celtic have come to a domestic defeat in this 58 game still unbeaten run under Brendan Rodgers and had Hibernian held on, in fact the draw was fair, then how ironic had Neil Lennon of all people been the man to do it.

When Hibs fell behind in the first half it seemed it would be yet another formulaic Celtic win.

However, two sensational John McGinn goals put the men from Edinburgh ahead and while Callum McGregor’s second meant the lead didn’t last long, Hibs were as good a side in Scotland that Rodgers has faced.

Craig Gordon made one of those "did that really happen saves" which Lennon described as world class. Both teams missed chances, Willie Collum produced, even by his standards, a bewildering performance, and Celtic should have been awarded a penalty right at the death.

It was a wonderful game, full of incident, played out at a full and noisy stadium and in McGinn, the best player on the pitch was a young Scot who played with positivity and strength, producing two of the best strikes you will see this season.

“That’s the toughest test we’ve had domestically,” admitted Rodgers. “There’s no question about that. So big credit to the Celtic players. I thought that mentality and that strength and character really came through in the end to keep going and get that result.

“We played so many games, coming back off a real period of the last three away from home, difficult games and travel and exertion then play against a team who were excellent in Hibs with that energy.

“They have pace in good areas, strength and power and had a good week to prepare. So, for us it was a great result.

“We’ve really shown why on this run of 58 games it’s so tough to do. When you’re playing lots of games in tough competitions, you can lose those types of games. We really had to dig deep and find a way to get a result.”

The first 15 minutes were something of a stalemate. Anthony Stokes had a free-kick put over the ball by Gordon and while Celtic dominated possession, Hibs were well in the game.

But then Celtic moved the ball with pace, as they do, Kieran Tierney found Moussa Dembele with his back to goal, he played in McGregor with a lovely pass, the midfielder’s first touch was superb, the finish into the opposite corner even better.

A strange thing about the first half was James Forrest being booked for a dive, which looked harsh, and then five minutes later he went down again, there was no foul and no second yellow. Collum continued to bemuse all day.

Hibs should have equalised on 34 minutes when a long ball over the top gave Martin Boyle, no slouch, a yard start on Dedryck Boyata as he raced into the box, but the in-from Celtic defender not only caught his man but put Boyle off enough that his shot went into the stand.

Scott Sinclair replaced Edouard at half time and his first two touches entailed a pass to Dembele, who at the edge of the box returned the compliment and then a shot which Laidlaw just kept out.

But then the game took off on 52 minutes. Some slackness from McGregor in defence gave Hibs the ball, Stokes held it up, Marvin Bartley took over, the ball went backward to McGinn whose first-time shot from 25 yards fizzed along the grass and into the bottom corner.

Hibs thought they had taken lead in 65 minutes. McGinn’s corner was met by the head of Stokes, the ball was perhaps a yard from goal, Steven Whittaker got a lot on his effort and yet Gordon, quite miraculously, got his hands up to make the save. You rarely see a goalie celebrate but he did and justifiably so.

However, McGinn was to strike again on 77 minutes. Efe Ambrose’s long pass wasn’t dealt with by Mikael Lustig and the ball fell to McGinn, and while his angle and distance from goal was against him, he put that left foot to good use and his shot screamed across Gordon and into the net.

What this it? What this the day Celtic were to be beaten?

As it was, within two minutes they were level. Leigh Griffiths’ cross was fortuitously headed away from goal by Boyata and there was McGregor who kept his cool to side-foot the ball past several Hibs players and into the net.

The game was then anyone’s. But it should have been Celtic’s. With a minute to go, Scott Sinclair dribbled his way into the box and past Ambrose who wasn’t having that and pulled the Celtic man back twice, Collum saw nothing, and he even managed to miss a handball by Paul Hanlon seconds later.

As poor a decision as that was, it would have been harsh on Hibs had they lost.

“I’m very proud of my players,” said Lennon. “It was great; emotional and different. Once the game was underway it was fine. It’s been a good day. The atmosphere was fantastic and I think we served up a great game of football.

“It would have been exciting for both sets of supporters, and I’m really pleased for the Hibs fans. They will go home happy.

"It will be odd going into the manager’s office. I haven't had a drink for a month so I hope he has some nice wine in there. I might take a couple of bottles home with me as well. There's a lot of respect there.

“All I can say is I am very proud of my team and I wouldn't be too critical of Celtic either because they have been unbelievable. This is an unbelievable run and what they are doing for the game is fantastic. It's all good from our perspective.”