Chris Sutton's home debut for Celtic was marred by a red card but Martin O'Neill's men held on for all three points in a bad-tempered affair at Parkhead.

The £6million recent capture from Chelsea was given a hero's welcome as he, manager O'Neill and fellow new boy Joos Valgaeren appeared for the first time at Parkhead in competitive football.

But the carnival atmosphere soon stopped as the game blew up with three players receiving their marching orders.

Bulgarian midfielder Stilian Petrov put Celtic in front with a great first-half strike and they looked on their way to a comfortable three points following the sending off of Motherwell youngster John Davies.

In a full-blooded second period Celtic duo Jackie McNamara and Sutton saw red for second bookable offences, but despite Motherwell's best efforts, the Hoops at least maintained their 100% record.

The visitors were not prepared to let the reputations and big names of Celtic faze them and after winning with 10 men at Parkhead last season, who could blame them?

In the very first minute Paul Harvey found himself in acres of space on the edge of the box to fire a shot at Celtic keeper Jonathan Gould - once again given the nod ahead of Stewart Kerr - who could only parry.

Young Well midfielder Davies let his over-exuberance get the better of him in the fifth minute when he floored Petrov with a reckless challenge which set the tone for the rest of the game. Referee Alan Freeland took his name.

Celtic created their first-half chance in the eighth minute when Valgaeren rose in the box to head Petrov's free-kick wide of the post as he missed out on marking his first start at Celtic Park with a goal.

The home side finally looked to be gaining a grip on the game and in the 11th minute they took the lead in emphatic fashion.

A moment of hesitancy in the Motherwell defence gave Celtic a look at goal but it still needed something special to capitalise and Petrov produced it with a crisp 20-yard right-foot volley from McNamara's pass which flew into the bottom corner.

Motherwell again responded and Gould had to be alert to save Martyn Corrigan's fierce effort in the 12th minute.

But Celtic looked high on confidence going forward and defender Greg Strong put Well under more pressure with a foul on Stephane Mahe on the edge of the box in the 23rd minute.

From the resulting free-kick Petrov tried to return the favour to McNamara on the edge of the area but the wing-back blazed over the bar.

Valgaeren showed his aerial threat from set-pieces three minutes later when he rose to head McNamara's free-kick just over the bar.

Despite Valgaeren's presence at the back, the home defence still looked nervous on occasions as Motherwell refused to throw in the towel.

But such was Celtic's attacking potency, it was more surprising that they failed to double their advantage.

Mahe, Henrik Larsson and Sutton linked up well to create a good opportunity for Eyal Berkovic, but the Israeli slashed his effort just wide of the post.

Motherwell's hopes of getting back on level terms were dealt a massive blow in the 37th minute when Davies petulantly pulled back Petrov and Freeland sent him off for his second booking.

The home side could have capitalised from the extra-man advantage almost immediately when Sutton shrugged off the challenge of Benito Kemble before laying the ball into the path of Berkovic. But he looked slightly off-balance and could only find goalkeeper Andy Goram with his effort.

Kemble was the next Motherwell man to go into the referee's notebook with three minutes to go before the break after he came in late with a challenge on Larsson and manager Billy Davies welcomed the whistle so he could regroup his players.

After the restart Larsson, who had a quiet game by his own standards, got his first glimpse of goal in the 49th minute when he looked to be in a great position to head home McNamara's corner, but it was just too high and he could only pull it wide.

But it looked only a matter of time before Celtic would double their advantage as they looked to wear the visitors down.

Sutton was inches from grabbing his second goal in as many starts after 62 minutes when midfielder Paul Lambert played a quick free-kick into his feet but he agonisingly watched his effort come back off the upright.

The home crowd were far from happy with several of the referee's decisions and their frustration seemed to get to a couple of the players - McNamara was booked in the 66th minute for a foul on Strong.

But it would get much worse for Celtic; two minutes later and the Scotland international saw red when he left Kemble in a heap on the floor.

Motherwell boss Davies tried to fire up his players from the touchline and it seemed to work as McCulloch fired just wide from a tight angle in the 69th minute.

The sending off seemed to have an adverse effect on Celtic and in an amazing turn of events they found themselves down to nine men when Sutton was red carded in the 81st minute.

The former Chelsea striker - already booked for tangling with Strong - was shown the red card for pulling back the same player to leave Celtic facing an anxious last nine minutes.

McCulloch then should have followed Sutton down the tunnel after kicking out at Mahe with just four minutes to go but the busy referee pulled out a yellow card.

However, Celtic dug deep - a quality which perhaps was not associated with them in the recent past - to give O'Neill encouragement and, more importantly, all three points.