An injury-time equaliser by Celtic substitute Craig Beattie secured a 4-4 draw against Motherwell and prevented manager Gordon Strachan from adding an embarrassing league defeat to midweek humiliation in the Champions League.
Hosts Motherwell denied Celtic last season's Scottish title on the final day in May when Scott McDonald's two late goals handed the Bank of Scotland Premier League title to Rangers.
And they had been seconds away from another famous victory after Terry Butcher's side had recovered from going 3-1 behind - John Hartson grabbed a first-half hat-trick - to lead 4-3.
Celtic fans had been shellshocked by Wednesday night's 5-0 thrashing by Artmedia Bratislava, in Strachan's first competitive match after succeeding Martin O'Neill. But their side were well in control at the break thanks to Hartson's efforts, with Brian Kerr's goal all Motherwell had to show.
But second-half goals from Jim Hamilton, Scott McDonald and William Kinniburgh turned the game around and it needed Beattie's late intervention to save Strachan from having to explain away another disappointing defeat.
Afterwards Strachan told BBC Scotland: "To lose goals as simple as that is hard to take. We have got a problem, there is no doubt about that. And it needs to be rectified quickly. I don't think there is too much thinking to be done. It is obvious – really obvious - where we need to sort things out.
"Defensively, today it didn't work so we will have to think of something else for Tuesday (the second leg against Bratislava). In an attacking sense, it gives us a bit hope for Tuesday after we scored four goals.
"You do take it personally because that is your team. You have to take it personally. What we don't want to do is panic. That would be the worst thing to do."
