Celtic 2-0 Motherwell

Celtic moved to the top of the Scottish Premiership table after a confident home win against Motherwell.

Anthony Stokes blasted in Celtic's opener from a tight angle after Motherwell keeper Lee Hollis failed to clear midway through the first half.

Immediately after the interval, Kris Commons outstripped the Motherwell defence to lob Hollis.

Fraser Forster again underlined his goalkeeping credentials by denying 'Well's John Sutton's late header.

After the midweek disappointment of narrowly losing out to Barcelona in their Champions League group match, Neil Lennon's men enjoyed a return to form while Stuart McCall's Motherwell should remain fairly contented to hold on to third place, largely thanks to Aberdeen's defeat by Ross County.

The hosts set out their intentions almost immediately when Emilio Izaguirre clipped the ball in to the penalty area and Hollis came out for the cross but ended up swiping at fresh air. Scott Brown pounced with a shot towards goal but it failed to find a way through the Motherwell defence.

Lennon was forced into an early substitution when Adam Matthews found himself on the wrong end of a sliding challenge by Motherwell captain Keith Lasley and had to be stretchered off, James Forrest replacing him.

Charlie Mulgrew then blasted a right-footed shot from 25 yards that deflected off a Motherwell body for a corner.

Commons flicked on a cross into the Motherwell penalty area and, with the ball bobbling around, Hollis was in total disarray before it landed favourably for Stokes to drive home.

Shortly after the half-hour mark, Commons' effort from Virgil van Dijk's cross was kept out by Hollis.

Motherwell pressed as the interval approached but Lionel Ainsworth's effort was high over the crossbar.

Shortly after the break, Commons netted a fine solo effort following a run that took him past Stephen McManus and Lasley.

Van Dijk soon embarked on an unstoppable run of his own down the inside-left channel and drifted past the Motherwell defence only to fire off target.

Substitute Henri Anier, on for Iain Vigurs, had an opportunity to drag Motherwell back into the match after some poor communication in the Celtic defence allowed him to line up a shot but his effort was wayward.

In the closing stages, England squad keeper Forster made a fantastic save, diving low to deny Sutton from close range.