Brendan Rodgers hopes all’s well that ends well as Celtic chase win at Fir Park

Brendan Rodgers is prepared to be patient against Motherwell as he looks forward to a trip to a ground where nothing has ever come easy for him during two spells as Celtic manager.

The Hoops came from 2-0 and then 3-2 down to edge a seven-goal thriller at Fir Park thanks to a Tom Rogic stoppage-time goal during Rodgers’ first season in charge as Celtic survived their biggest scare in the invincible domestic campaign of 2016-17.

An 88th-minute penalty equaliser from Scott Sinclair maintained Rodgers’ unbeaten domestic record in November of the following season and Celtic were held to a goalless draw later during a campaign in which they beat Motherwell in both cup finals.

It was Well’s turn to strike a late equaliser through Danny Johnson the following season before Rodgers left for Leicester, and the close encounters at Fir Park continued following his return.

Matt O’Riley struck seven minutes into stoppage time to earn Celtic a dramatic 2-1 win in September last year and late strikes from Adam Idah and Luis Palma helped the champions to victory in February after Blair Spittal had given the Steelmen a deserved half-time lead.

Motherwell have drawn on their last two visits to Celtic Park and Rodgers expects a tough challenge against Stuart Kettlewell’s side.

Rodgers, whose team are fresh from holding Atalanta in the Champions League, said: “It’s always been a tough place to go. I always really enjoy going there. It’s always a really good atmosphere, we bring a great support behind the goals.

“They’re always tough games. Stuart has his team set up well. They go between a back five and then whether they play two strikers up front and three midfield, or a sort of 3-4-3 structure, it can just depend. The last few weeks, it’s been more 5-3-2.

“So we’ll expect a team that will be well organised. Stuart organises his teams very, very well, very organised, very committed.

“They’ll be disappointed with their last result, so they’ll want to bounce back from that. And for us, we know what we need after a Champions League game. It’s big energy, big attitude and to continue with the great start to the season for us.”

When asked if we would prefer a more comfortable trip to Fir Park following last season’s late drama, Rodgers said: “If you can only predict and forecast, it would be great.

“Everyone would love to be comfortable in the game, but sometimes it’s not like that. Teams will give everything to get the result. But what hopefully that tells you is this is a team with perseverance and persistence and can keep going.

“So ultimately you have to do what it takes to get the result. And we always have that mentality that we can.”

Rodgers agreed that some of the wins at Fir Park had been among his most satisfying games.

“Yes, especially some of those games last season,” he said. “Some of the games when we were searching for that late win, Matt scored a great goal at the back post. The ball could have been easily just pumped forward and into the mix, but we kept that calmness and then Greg (Taylor) makes a great cross in the half space and we get the winner.

“It was everything that we would want. Scoring a late win away from home is always really nice and it’s great for the supporters. But, of course, whichever way it comes, you just want to win.”