Celtic are on course to move to the top of the Scottish Premiership table after taking a 1-0 lead into half time against Motherwell.

The visitors started the game at Fir Park on top, and after Stuart Armstrong had lashed a strike wide of the target, they opened the scoring on the quarter-hour mark.

Armstrong set up Kris Commons, who had an effort saved by Connor Ripley, but the rebound fell to Nadir Ciftci who made no mistake from eight yards out.

Midway through the half, Commons tried his luck with a free kick from distance, but again, Ripley was equal to the shot from the Scotland international.

Nir Bitton and Tomas Rogic also had opportunities to extend their team's advantage, but neither man could find the target from outside of the box.

With eight minutes until the break, Commons struck the woodwork with a free kick, but the Scottish Premiership champions would have to make do with just the one goal at half time.