Motherwell 1
Porter 60
Celtic 2
McDonald 62 Samaras 79
Motherwell 1 Celtic 2 May 03 2008
Celtic's SPL title hopes remain on course after a late Georgios Samaras header gave them a 2-1 win over Motherwell at Fir Park.
After a tetchy first half Chris Porter headed the home side into the lead in the 61st minute.
However, former Well striker Scott McDonald levelled barely a minute later with his 30th goal of the season.
With 12 minutes remaining Samaras, on for Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, bundled home a Barry Robson corner from close range to complete the comeback.
The champions extended their lead over Rangers at the top of the table to eight points but the Ibrox outfit have four games in hand starting with a trip to Easter Road on Sunday.
On the half-hour mark McDonald forced the ball past goalkeeper Luke Daniels from eight yards out but was ruled offside.
The home side took the lead with their first chance of the game on 61 minutes.
The Hoops never really cleared their lines following a misunderstanding between Artur Boruc and Lee Naylor which led to a throw-in on the right.
When Brian McLean's whipped cross came into the Parkhead penalty area, Porter nipped in ahead of Bobo Balde to head past Boruc high into the net from around six yards out.
But a minute later the champions were level when McDonald levelled, taking advantage of slackness in the Motherwell penalty area to head Shunsuke Nakamura's cross past Daniels from close range.
And in the 79th minute it was the Greek striker - on loan from Manchester City - who gave Gordon Strachan's side the lead with their first corner of the match.
Robson's cross somehow found its way through a packed penalty area and Samaras bundled the ball over the line from around two yards out with his head.