Celtic threw the gauntlet down to Hearts in the Scottish Premiership title race after they came from behind to beat 10-player Motherwell 3-1 at Celtic Park.
Derek McInnes takes his league leaders to Rugby Park to face Kilmarnock later on Saturday, live on Your Site, which gave Celtic the chance to close the gap, at least temporarily, to two points at the top but they were made to work for the win by a determined Motherwell side.
Elijah Just's goal shortly after the half-hour mark silenced the home support before a Hyun-Jun Yang double either side of a Tomas Cvancara penalty in the second half set the home side on their way to three points.
Motherwell had dominated possession in the first half but that grip on the game fell away at the start of the second as Celtic found another gear.
Emmanuel Longelo's sending-off as the hosts were awarded that penalty made the visitors' task all the harder, with Jens Berthel Askou's side falling to their second defeat in a row.
The visitors made just one change to the side that lost 2-1 to Dundee last week with Celtic loanee Stephen Welsh unavailable to play against his parent club, and they started the brighter, keeping the ball from their opponents for long spells.
However, it was Celtic who had the better of the early chances. Benjamin Nygren should have done better after Longelo failed to deal with a long ball into the box but the Swedish forward couldn't get a clean shot away.
Sebastian Tounekti then curled an effort just wide before Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's effort from range was pushed on to the post by Calum Ward, with the ball rolling along the Motherwell goal line and somehow staying out.
Benjamin Arthur was next to go close for the hosts as he met Nygren's corner but his header skimmed the roof of the net as it went over the bar.
Despite that period of pressure, it was Motherwell who took the lead. Reo Hatate was caught dawdling in possession in his own box by Elliot Watt who pushed the ball to Callum Slattery who fed in Just, with the Well midfielder smashing a low effort past Viljami Sinisalo.
The hosts didn't have to wait long to get back on level terms, however. This time it was Motherwell who were guilty of trying to take too many touches in a dangerous area, with Nygren winning the ball in the Motherwell half and driving for the byline, with Ward punching his cutback out to the waiting Yang who fired into the corner.
Slattery had a couple of chances to put Motherwell back in front before the break, but it was Celtic who came out firing after the interval following the introduction of Cvancara for Tounekti.
Celtic were immediately on the front foot but just couldn't find that killer shot or pass to trouble Ward, with Ibrahim Said then forcing a good save from Sinisalo.
Nygren then thought he had given his side the lead but his deflected effort from the edge of the box smashed off the post, much to Ward's relief, before the Premiership's top scorer Tawanda Maswanhise fired a curling effort just wide.
The turning point in the game came after 68 minutes when Longelo tangled with Daizen Maeda at the back post following a Celtic corner. Referee John Beaton was well-placed and originally gave a goal kick before being called over to the monitor by VAR Kevin Clancy to review the incident.
A penalty was awarded with a stunned Longelo awarded a red card for his troubles, allowing Cvancara to send Ward the wrong way from 12 yards.
Celtic put the game out of sight with a little over 10 minutes remaining when Yang got on the end of a long ball over the top to finish smartly past Ward and put all the pressure on leaders Hearts later on Saturday, and Old Firm rivals Rangers, who travel to St Mirren on Sunday.
