CELTIC manager Neil Lennon said he was concerned about his side’s trip to Livingston coming so soon after the high of the midweek win over Cluj, and he had every right to be as Gary Holt's men chalked up a famous victory.
A red card for Ryan Christie after 25 minutes hampered the champions, and Scott Robinson made Livingston’s advantage pay just after the break with a fine opener.
The outstanding Lyndon Dykes then finished brilliantly with just over quarter of an hour to go to finish the game as a contest.
Livingston were doing their best to smother Celtic early on, and they created a decent opening of their own as Nicky Devlin did brilliantly down the right to get to the byline and fire a low ball across that Jon Guthrie steered just wide.
A cleverly worked free-kick then saw Stevie Lawless play a one-two with Robinson, with Lawless getting a low shot away that Fraser Forster had to look lively to deal with on his 200th appearance for Celtic.
That seemed to jolt the visitors awake, and Odsonne Edouard immediately went up the other end and brought the first save out of Matija Sarkic with a decent effort.
Their task was made much more difficult though as Christie had a rush of blood to the head, flying into a needless challenge on Robinson in midfield and catching him high on the shin with his studs. It was a certain red card, leaving Celtic with over an hour to negotiate with just 10 men.
They made it to the break, but just minutes after the restart Livingston took a deserved lead. Lawless did well on the right, feeding the ball into Robbie Crawford at the edge of the area. He was given all the time in the world to get his head up and slide a lovely ball through for Robinson, who beat the offside trap and fired home past Forster.
Lennon responded by throwing on Vakoun Issouf Bayo for James Forrest, and the more direct approach started to pay dividends. Mohamed Elyounoussi got in down the left and had a shot parried by Sarkic, with the ball scrambled clear just before Bayo could apply the finish.
Celtic were caught cold though at the other end as a free-kick from Sarkic from just inside his own half evaded the entire visiting backline, allowing Dykes to latch onto the ball and expertly dink it over the head of Forster and in.
It was no more than Celtic deserved for their defending, and the final outcome was exactly what both sides deserved on the day.
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