Maeda late show spares Celtic's blushes as Falkirk draw piles more pressure on Rangers' Martin
Celtic came from behind to defeat Motherwell 3-2 as Daizen Maeda scored late on, while Rangers were held at Falkirk.
Daizen Maeda's 92nd minute winner handed Celtic a dramatic 3-2 win over Motherwell to keep pressure on Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts on Sunday.
Brendan Rodgers' knew a win was crucial having seen Hearts beat city rivals Hibernian 24 hours later, and they left it late to seal a crucial three points at Celtic Park.
Celtic were awarded a penalty in the 28th minute when Callum McGregor's strike hit Regan Charles-Cook on the arm inside the penalty area, with Kelechi Iheanacho stepping up to convert the spot-kick.
But the visitors responded brilliantly by drawing level five minutes before the break through Apostolos Stamatelopoulos, who met Tawanda Maswanhise's cross to score.
It got even better for Motherwell as they were handed a penalty of their own following a challenge from Marcelo Saracchi on Maswanhise, with Stamatelopoulos making no mistake from 12 yards to score his second just before the hour.
Celtic were staring down the prospect of a second home defeat in three days across all competitiond, but pulled a goal back after 69 minutes as Benjmain Nygren found the net, after the away side had been caught playing out from the back.
The defending champions went on the offensive during the final few minutes and got their reward, Michel-Ange Balikwisha's teasing delivery was tucked home by Maeda to give Celtic the win.
And for Celtic's rivals Rangers, the pressure continued to mount on Russell Martin as his team surrendered a one-goal lead to draw 1-1 away to Falkirk.
Rangers took the lead four minutes before half-time as Bojan Miovski scored his first goal for the club, following fine play from left-back Derek Cornelius in the build up.
But Falkirk roared back after the break and restored parity in the 73rd minute when Henry Cartright crashed a fabulous effort past visiting goalkeeper Jack Butland.
Rangers have now won just once from their seven league games so far and sit in eighth position, nine points off Celtic and 11 adrift of leaders Hearts.
Data Debrief: Celtic continue impressive run as Rangers suffer from familiar defensive woes on the road
Rodgers' side have not been close to their best this season, but they still haven't been defeated in the league since a 1-0 defeat away to St Johnstone, all the way back in early April.
Motherwell, meanwhile, have made a solid start to the campaign and pushed the champions all the way, but they've already lost nine points from winning positions, which is the most of any other team.
Martin may be under severe pressure as Rangers manager but a failure to keep clean sheets away from home was a problem that preceded his tenure. They have now gone 23 away games in all competitions without a clean sheet, equalling a club record that has stood since the Victorian era, between 1895 and 1897.
