THE impressive 11 game winning run which Celtic had been on domestically in 2020 may well have come to an end last night when they were held to a draw in this full-blooded and fraught encounter with Livingston.

Yet, the point they picked up at the death thanks to a dramatic injury-time equaliser from substitute Tom Rogic still took them a significant step closer to a record-equalling ninth consecutive Scottish title due to events elsewhere.

With Rangers crashing to a shock 1-0 defeat to bottom-placed Hamilton at Ibrox they actually increased their lead in the Ladbrokes Premiership to 13 points and reduced their city rivals’ chances of catching them even further.

The large and boisterous travelling support, who filled three stands at the Tony Macaroni Arena and roared their heroes on from kick-off to the final whistle, celebrated long after the action on the park had ended.

Livingston, who fought tenaciously throughout in their inimitable fashion, were bitterly disappointed not to record their second win over the defending champions at their West Lothian ground in the 2019/20 campaign at the end of the 90 minutes.

But Neil Lennon’s men battled bravely themselves and when Rogic got on the end of an Odsonne Edouard pass and drilled a shot beyond Robby McCrorie in the 92nd minute it was the least they deserved for their efforts.

The same defensive howlers that caused Celtic to suffer their first Premiership defeat of the season against Livingston back in October resurfaced on the notorious artificial pitch at the Tony Macaroni Arena.

Goalkeeper Fraser Forster fumbled a Ciaron Brown throw-in and allowed Jon Guthrie to net a first-half equaliser and Christopher Jullien slipped and let Lyndon Dykes tee up Scott Robinson for a goal in the first minute of the second.

On this occasion, however, their all-round performance was outstanding and they managed to repair the damage they had done.

Having been knocked out of the William Hill Scottish Cup by Inverness Caledonian Thistle last month, Livingston hadn’t played a competitive match in 11 days.

That was in stark contrast to their rivals who were taking part their third in a week. But there was nothing wrong with the visitors’ energy levels when proceedings got underway.

Scott Brown, too, showed he is quite capable of dishing out the sort of physical treatment the hosts are renowned for early on when he tracked back and dispossessed Scott Pittman with a robust challenge.

Nir Bitton also drew a cheer from the large and buoyant travelling support who filled three sides of the ground when he chipped over Aaron Taylor-Sinclair’s head and advanced upfield.

Robinson fired just wide and Guthrie had a header saved by Fraser Forster. But it was the away side which opened the scoring in the 16th minute. Steve Lawson sclaffed an attempted clearance of a Greg Taylor cutback at the edge of his area and McGregor pounced.

The midfielder cut inside and whipped a shot beyond Robby McCrorie. It was Celtic’s first goal at the venue since Livingston regained their top flight status two seasons ago.

But their joy proved short-lived. Forster gifted Livingston an equaliser just eight minutes later when he dropped a long throw from Ciaron Brown at Guthrie’s feet. The defender showed great composure and no little skill to hook the ball over both his shoulder and the goalkeeper.

The Celtic players felt their team mate had been barged by the scorer, but referee Willie Collum ignored their protests.

Jullien headed a Ryan Christie free-kick just over the crossbar, Edouard struck the inside of the right post after being supplied by McGregor and Taylor forced a decent save from McCrorie. But their opponents, who harried them relentlessly and gave them no time on the ball, deserved to be level at half-time.

Livingston were slightly fortunate, though, to take the lead early in the second-half. Dykes took full advantage when Jullien fell over inside his area and squared to the onrushing Robinson who had the simplest of tasks to side-foot in the net. It was only his second goal of the 2019/20 campaign. Both have come against Celtic.

Lennon put on Jeremie Frimpong for Taylor, Tom Rogic for Mohammed Elyounoussi and Leigh Griffiths for Christie in an attempt to restore parity. His charges couldn’t be faulted for effort.

But Livingston withstood everything that was thrown at them and could easily have increased their lead in the 70th minute. They were unfortunate that Dykes ballooned a decent opportunity over.

Brown got embroiled in a shoving match with Livingston replacement Marvin Bartley towards the end and Collum showed both men yellow cards. But there was to be even more drama. Edouard charged upfield and fed Rogic who made no mistake.