Celtic came away with the three points on Sunday afternoon, defeating Motherwell 3-0 at Fir Park thanks to goals from Luke McCowan, Alistair Johnston, and Adam Idah.
Facing three tough games in the next week, Kettlewell made a couple of changes to his lineup. Marvin Kaleta made his first start, with Tom Sparrow also earning his first start.
Despite making changes after their spirited performance in Italy in midweek and missing captain Callum McGregor, Brendan Rodgers was still able to kick off with a formidable starting eleven.
It was the Steelmen, though, who made an impressive opening. And twice inside a couple of minutes, the home side came within a few centimetres of opening the scoring.
With only eight minutes played, Liam Scales’ pass back put Kasper Schmeichel under pressure. The keeper’s rushed clearance was snapped up by Stamatelopoulos. He laid the ball back for Lennon Miller, who watched his drilled effort from 20 yards rebound from the right hand post.
Two minutes later, the Well teenager was unlucky once again. His quick feet 25 yards from goal earned him a free kick. And after curling the ball over the Celtic wall, it seemed destined for the top right-hand corner of the goal until it rattled off the face of the crossbar.
A glancing header from Daizen Maeda momentarily brought Aston Oxborough into action, diving across his goal to push the ball behind, but the bulk of the early action was at the other end.
A deep corner from Andy Halliday found Miller at the rear of the six-yard box, and his downward header caused a bit of chaos in front of the keeper’s post, followed by a check of handball.
Miller was at the centre of everything, and after 22 minutes, his cute backheeler fell for Sparrow at the edge of the box, but his shot on the half-volley went straight into Schmeichel’s arms.
Then, four minutes later, Celtic grabbed the lead.
Former Dundee midfielder McCowan waltzed through the centre of the home defence before sliding a low left foot drive beyond Oxborough.
The Parkhead side looked more comfortable after that, and for a minute it looked as if they had added a bizarre second goal.
Alistair Johnston’s low ball in behind the Well rearguard had play racing towards Oxborough, but as Maeda fell, he nudged the ball beyond the advancing keeper with the ball rolling against the past and over the line. A VAR check would take place into the investigation of a hand ball from Celtic. After careful consideration, a handball was given keeping the score 0-1.
In stark contrast, the league champions began the second half with a greater tempo.
And within minutes, it took a smart diving save from Oxborough to repel Kyogo Furuhashi’s snap shot.
Kaleta’s cross into the visitor’s box begged a finish, but Stamatelopoulos had a fresh air shot before Ewan Wilson’s left foot swerved the ball wide of goal.
What followed would create disappointment for Stuart Kettlewell in the 55th minute.
Alex Valle’s cross towards the six-yard area was met by Johnston, who powerfully planted his header behind a helpless Oxborough.
With 18 minutes remaining, Oxborough produced a quick double save and gave the Fir Park men continued hope that they could get back into the game.
Moses Ebiye’s header and another from Miller forced a couple of saves from Schmeichel, before Idah closed the deal with a skilful goal after an strong performance from Celtic during the second-half.
It got worse for Motherwell in injury time, when after VAR intervention, Liam Gordon’s challenge on Idah was upgraded from a yellow to a red card.
