Before the visit of the Lanarkshire side, Jean-Joel Perrier Doumbe, Chris Killen, Georgios Samaras, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, Marc Crosas, Glenn Loovens, Aiden McGeady, and Artur Boruc - set to go in for a knee operation on Monday - were all ruled out through injury with only Samaras on his way back in the short term.

To add to Strachan's woes, Shunsuke Nakamura was a late call-off after he was sent for a scan on his knee injury and youngster Paul McGowan was also ruled out with injury.

Although they are struggling in the Champions League, Celtic remain top of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League after goals from Paul Hartley and Scott McDonald eased them to victory over the Fir Park side who were reduced to 10 men when David Clarkson was red-carded after appearing to push Hoops substitute Paul Caddis in the face.

Afterwards, Strachan surveyed the latest additions to his lengthy injury list.

He said: "Shaun had a dead leg. We tried to keep him jogging about at half-time but he couldn't get going in the second half.

"Nakamura injured himself on Thursday. He wanted to give it a go on Friday at training but the doctor sent him away for a scan and it's not good news.

"It's his knee and he will be missing for a couple of weeks.

"Young Gowser (McGowan) was going to be substitute today but he had a problem and he couldn't make it.

"We are up to a full team of injuries now but the rest of us will just get on with it.

"It's not easy but they are sticking to their job and doing well.

"I was very pleased with them because it was a hard game.

"We will go again against Kilmarnock on Wednesday with the same guys."

Motherwell manager Mark McGhee believes that his side should have had a goal awarded when John Sutton's header appeared to go over the line before Maloney cleared and also claimed that Clarkson was unlucky to be sent off by referee Dougie McDonald.

However, the former Celtic striker admitted that his team were simply not good enough to beat an under-strength Hoops side.

"The timing of the first goal when it came just before the break wasn't really crucial", McGhee said.

"We had the whole of the second half to get a goal back.

"So my assessment of the performance is that we weren't good enough to beat Celtic, nothing else.

"I came here thinking that we could win the game but I knew we had to play better than that so I am hugely disappointed."

McGhee added: "As for the sending off, the referee knows the players and he has to take that into account.

"David Clarkson is not a lad who is deliberately going to do that and also, he is not stupid, he is not going to do that in front of the referee.

"He put his arm out to fend off the defender and unfortunately caught him. It was harsh."

Hartley was delighted to score his first goal in front of a home crowd since signing from Hearts in January, 2007 but hit out at those critics who questioned the fitness of the Celtic squad.

He said: "Some people have a lot to say about our fitness but we showed how fit we are against Motherwell.

"I was fine at the end of the game. People talk about being tired but we are only into November, we will see if we are tired in April."