Petrov puts Bhoys in interval lead

Motherwell 0, Celtic 1 (half-time)

Stilian Petrov continued his rich vein of goalscoring form to give Celtic the half-time lead following Derek Adams’ dismissal in a lively match at Fir Park.

Larsson again looked lively after scoring his 41st goal of the season on Saturday and he spotted the run of Stilian Petrov into the box, but the Bulgarian headed over.

McFadden again tested the pace of Balde and Jackie McNamara in the 24th minute and got a left-foot shot away, but Javier Sanchez Broto got down well to save.

But on the half-hour the crowd saw the worst of the young Motherwell star when he appeared to raise his hands to Lennon after the Northern Irishman fired the ball at him.

Amazingly only the Celtic man was cautioned, but moments later Motherwell were reduced to 10 men.

Thompson went down after an off-the-ball incident involving Derek Adams and after consultation with the linesman, McDonald showed him the red card.

That sparked an angry reaction by his team-mates, but they almost took the lead in the 32nd minute.

Martyn Corrigan let fly with a powerful right-foot shot which Broto acrobatically turned over the crossbar.

That proved a decisive moment because just three minutes later Celtic went ahead through Petrov.

The Bulgarian was left in acres of space down the right and Larsson threaded the ball through to him to blast past Woods’ despairing dive.

Motherwell were clearly losing their discipline and Corrigan was booked for a reckless lunge on Lambert, who returned to action after receiving treatment.

In injury time at the end of the first-half Woods redeemed himself for Celtic’s goal when he pushed Petrov’s right-foot shot away.