Celtic came from two goals down to beat Motherwell 4-3 with a last gasp winner in a breath-taking afternoon at Fir Park.

Brendan Rodgers' side had trailed to first-half goals from Louis Moult before Callum McGregor and Patrick Roberts drew them level, only for Lionel Ainsworth to immediately restore the host's advantage.

Celtic responded with goals from Stuart Armstrong before Tom Rogic netted a winner in the final minute of regulation time.

It preserved Celtic's unbeaten record domestically - a run that now stretches to 17 games. The nature of the win and the manner in which Celtic had to dig in to eek out the win gives further credence to the theory that Rodgers has built a team of substantial character and resilience.

And yet, it took just three minutes for Motherwell to puncture the feelgood factor from the League Cup.

Molt netted his first of the afternoon, a looping effort that left Craig Gordon stooping to pick the ball out of the net for the first time for 781 domestic minutes.

Stephen McManus had been the provider with a fine run out of defence before pinging in the diagonal ball for Moult.

That diagonal cross was Celtic’s achilles heel in the opening period, with Motherwell’s incursions down the left-flank particularly troublesome to the Parkhead side.

Rodgers put on Callum McGregor for Emilio Izaguirre who was floundering on a booking after just half an hour, but Celtic’s afternoon did not improve.

Ross MacLean was next up to ask questions of the Celtic defence when he floated in a pacey cross that was misjudged by Kolo Toure and converted at the back post by Moult.

Celtic were furious; Mikael Lustig looked to have been fouled by MacLean in the build-up to the goal, but the defending, or lack of it, reflected poorly on a Hoops side who have spent the early months of the season establishing a solidity at the back.

Erik Sviatchenko missed the game, as did Leigh Griffiths, because of illness and the absence of the Dane appeared to be considerable. Toure played his part in navigating Celtic through the group stages of the Champions League qualifiers but having not played since the home defeat to Borussia Monchengladbach, he looked slow and heavy against Motherwell.

Celtic re-jigged their system in the second period with Rodgers reverting to a back three. McGregor clawed them back into the game after a one-two with Stuart Armstrong and minutes later Tom Rogic almost levelled the scores.

The Aussie breezed through the Well defence but his final effort was straight at Craig Samson, who beat it away. It was Rogic again in the 65th minute who curled an effort from the edge of the box that looked bound for the top corner before Samson denied him again.

Celtic restored parity when James Forrest supplied Stuart Armstrong and his cross was converted at the back post by Patrick Roberts.

It was a position they couldn’t hold, though. From the restart Motherwell took the lead again, Steve Hammell’s cross this time leaving Toure flat-footed again and Lionel Ainsworth, barely on the park netted.

Celtic, to their credit, came again. Armstrong collected with his back to goal, spun and pivoted before unleashing a low angled show that beat Samson to level proceedings for the second time in minutes.

Rodgers’ men almost took the lead for the first time in the encounter when a ball across the face of goal had Motherwell scrambling to clear before anyone in a Hoops shirt could pounce and convert.

Moussa Dembele had a header saved from a McGregor corner as Celtic looked to assert themselves but as the pace of the game slowed, it looked as though they would settle for a point.

Then, just as the minutes ticked down, Rogic netted to give Celtic all three points.