Celtic stayed seven points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership by defeating Motherwell 2-1 at Fir Park on Wednesday night. Here's how the Hoops players rated...

Joe Hart: The Celtic shot-stopper did not look too clever at all early on as he got caught in no-man's land and allowed Kevin van Veen to round him easily - but the angle was tight and the Dutchman's early effort cracked back off the post. He also slapped at a cross and elected to punch when he could have caught the ball. He was well beaten by Ross Tierney's volley to reduce the arrears later in the match. 6

Josip Juranovic: Congratulations to the Celtic right-back who was rightfully named in Croatia's World Cup squad - he might well have bigger fish to fry in the coming weeks on an international level but it was his consistency in the bread and butter that had elated his game to such heights. He was asked to perform at least one more service for his club in Lanarkshire as he replaced Anthony Ralston in the starting line-up. He offered a decent outlet on the right flank all evening but it was his trailing leg that played Tierney on for Motherwell's goal. 7

Cameron Carter-Vickers: "I think it is important we get two good performances and two good results in both of them and that would set us up nicely for after the World Cup," the stand-in captain said ahead of the game. Note the use of the words performances and results and that would have pleased his manager no end. You could be forgiven for thinking the American defender would have has his mind on other things but he retained his laser focus on domestic duty with Celtic. Qatar can wait as far as he is concerned; an absolute rock a the heart of the Hoops' defence. 8

Carl Starfelt: Ange Postecoglou handed the Swede his first domestic start since his injury lay-off. It was familiar territory for him as he settled back into a central defensive pairing with old sparring partner Carter-Vickers. It was as if he had never been away as he headed many a high ball away and won his fair share of tackles. He also looked more confident in terms of his distribution. One question remains though: what's with the gloves in the first half, big man? 8

Greg Taylor: One wonders how the full-back feels at being withdrawn from the Scotland squad at his manager's behest to participate in the Sydney Super Cup. People will argue the toss on the merits or otherwise of that but it is a credit to Taylor that he has become an automatic choice at both club and international squad levels. There will be more caps in the offing in the future that's for sure. He was solid all night in this one but was uncharacteristically slack with one pass which Callum Slattery latched onto to try his luck from 45 yards. Thankfully on that occasion the ball drifted harmlessly wide. 7

Matt O'Riley: Tenacity won the day for the opening goal as the Denmark under-21 midfielder showed graft to rob Slattery and then produced a piece of genuine craft to lay it on a plate for Kyogo with an exquisite centre that just needed a finishing touch and the striker duly obliged. He really has come into his own despite being deployed in the deeper Callum McGregor role. He is a proper footballer; are you watching Kaspar Hjumland? There is still time to book O'Riley a seat on that plane bound for Qatar and if he continues in this way he'll make himself so hard to ignore. 8

Celtic Way:

Reo Hatate: The Japanese midfielder was caught waiting on a pass inside the opening minutes and was robbed by Stephen O'Donnell who set up Van Veen for his effort that he slammed against the post from an angle. He struggled to get any fluency or rhythm after that early setback and was involved in a tangle with O'Donnell and copped the treatment from the home fans after the incident but TV pictures showed that it was nothing more than handbags. 6

Aaron Mooy: Mooy was another who was celebrating his call-up to the Australian World Cup squad. Some of his one-touch passing and give-and-gos were straight out of the top drawer. He is rarely wasteful in possession. He was denied a free shot at goal by some last-ditch defending from Bevis Mugabi but faded as the game wore on. 6

Liel Abada: The Israeli was given a lot of freedom on the right wing but he failed to make use of the space afforded to him. He possesses an electric burst of pace but whenever he did beat his man his delivery was erratic. He was unsurprisingly hooked for Sead Haksabanovic on the hour mark. 5

Jota: The Portuguese winger is just so elegant on the ball and always looks capable of producing a moment of brilliance at any given stage. He whistled an effort over the top and saw Liam Kelly spill another drive at goal in the first half. Later, he was robbed of a quite stunning goal by the assistant's flag and VAR after being put clean through by Kyogo. 7

Kyogo Furuhashi: Saturday's last-gasp goalscoring hero against Dundee United was drafted back into the starting XI at the expense of Giorgos Giakoumakis and he would have been mindful of the fact that he was on target during his last visit to Lanarkshire in the 4-0 League Cup triumph last month. It took the talisman just 15 minutes to roll home the opener as he made it 11 for the season after O'Riley had brilliantly performed the spade work. He would have contributed to the goal of the season so far with an assist had his defence-splitter to Jota not been disallowed by VAR for offside. 7

Substitutes

Sead Haksabanovic (Abada 60): The Montenegrin was given half an hour to make an impact as he came on for the ineffective Abada. 4

David Turnbull (Hatate 69): Former Fir Park favourite was handed a quarter of the contest to see if he could conjure up a second goal to make the game safe. He duly did just that with a superb flighted ball to Daizen Maeda for the killer goal. 5

Giorgos Giakoumakis (Kyogo 69): He is reputed to be talking to Celtic about a bumper new deal and the Hoops would be wise to time him down on a longer contract. He put himself about in the minutes he was on the field and even stuck one over the top from close range but he was deceived by Ricki Lamie's desperate touch. 3

Daizen Maeda (Jota 79): The Japanese World Cup star was given an eleven-minute run-out and buried the second clinically from Turnbull's sublime chipped pass.

Oliver Abildgaard (Mooy 79): Lesser-spotted Dane was handed some more game time as he also got the closing stages.

Substitutes not used: Benjamin Siegrist. Moritz Jenz, James Forrest, Anthony Ralston.

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