Beattie scores late Celtic winner
GLASGOW, Scotland -- Substitute Craig Beattie came off the bench to score a late winner and snatch three points for Scottish champions Celtic in a 3-2 win at Motherwell.
Martin O'Neill's side, seven points clear of Rangers who host Aberdeen on Sunday, went two goals ahead at Fir Park but poor defending almost cost them victory.
"It's exciting stuff at the moment. We're scoring goals but the way we're defending means we're needing three and four goals to win games," said O'Neill.
Winger Aiden McGeady tucked home Celtic's opener on 41 minutes and Alan Thompson added a penalty on 65 after Stilian Petrov was felled by former Celtic midfielder Phil O'Donnell.
But Motherwell continued pressing and scored twice in four minutes against a Celtic side who have conceded 10 goals in four games.
Martyn Corrigan netted with a long-range strike after 67 minutes and Richie Foran levelled four minutes later with another penalty before Beattie ended the home revival when he smashed into the net on 77 minutes.
"In terms of going forward, we're exciting but we're maybe not clever at the other end though every season brings it's own problems," O'Neill added.
"We've also got an attacking line-up and there's a fair chance teams will get at us because of that."
In Saturday's other Premier League games, managerless Hearts, whose former head coach Craig Levein has taken over at Leicester City, hammered 10-man Dundee 3-0 to occupy fourth place.
Kilmarnock beat Hibernian 3-1 while Dunfermline Athletic won 2-1 at bottom-placed Dundee United. Inverness Caledonian Thistle beat Livingston 2-0.
