Beattie strikes to deny Motherwell

Motherwell 1 Celtic 1

Both sets of players found it hard to control or predict the bounce of the ball before even trying to contemplate anything which resembled football.

Celtic did their best with Liam Miller and Stephen Pearson showing some good early touches, infuriating the home crowd even further.

Motherwell snatched a controversial lead in the 64th minute through David Clarkson despite a big suggestion of offside.

Alex Burns ran onto Quinn’s through-ball and as the Celtic defence stood expecting the flag to go up he played it across goal for the youngster to steer it home. Clarkson then missed a glorious chance to kill Celtic off in the 77th minute. David Marshall kept Stephen Craigan’s header out, from Jason Dair’s corner, but the youngster blazed over from under the crossbar.

The miss proved costly, as Celtic drew level in the 79th minute when Beattie arrived at the near post to head Jamie Smith’s corner home.

MOTHERWELL: Corr, Quinn, Craigan, Corrigan, Hammell, Lasley, Fagan (Fitzpatrick 69), Burns, Dair, Scott McDonald (Wright 84), Clarkson (Kevin McDonald 86).

CELTIC: Marshall, Mjallby, Lennon, McManus, Smith, Miller, Lambert, Pearson, Wallace, McGeady, Beattie.

Ref: J Rowbotham (Scotland).