IT WAS a moment which haunted Lee Erwin from the second it took place.

The 20-year-old was only on the park for four minutes and eight seconds when it happened.

A sclaffed clearance landed at the feet of fellow-Motherwell substitute Lionel Ainsworth out on the right wing. He shuffled the ball to his right foot before swinging it deep into the Celtic box with less than eight minutes to play.

It was a ball with all the precision of a missile as it hung perfectly in the air for his team-mate unmarked six yards out.

However, with what was pretty much his first touch, Erwin's accuracy was not quite up to the standard of his team-mate. With perhaps more time and space than he was aware of, he rose unchallenged before steering a free header well wide of Craig Gordon's goal.

It was the chance Motherwell had been waiting for to avenge an early goal that was gifted to Celtic. However, it was gone almost as quickly as it arrived with Erwin left standing alone in the box with his head in his hands.

"I just tried to place it with a glancing header, but I didn't think I would have that much time," conceded the young Fir Park forward.

"I watched it again on the laptop after the game and, if I had the chance again, I probably would have chested it down. I hadn't been on long and it just came to me too quickly. I was undecided on what to do.

"I had a rotten night on Saturday because of that, but now I just have to look forward to the next game. If it happens again I just have to try to do better."

That miss aside, Erwin showed enough dynamism in his short cameo to suggest his presence should be felt for longer in the games ahead.

Replacing John Sutton, who was isolated for much of the contest as Henrik Ojamaa was forced deep, his younger team-mate provided a fresh energy that caused Celtic problems.

He wriggled free in the box in the dying seconds to shoot wide, and the former Scotland under-19 striker also went down in the box late on only to be booked for what referee Calum Murray deemed was a dive.

It has been a stop-start season for the young man who netted his only goal of the campaign in the first game of the season against St Mirren.

And while he is hoping he did enough on Saturday to earn a starting place, he is hoping it is alongside Sutton rather instead of him.

ERWIN, who scored eight goals in 11 appearances while on loan at Arbroath for three months in 2013, said: "I scored in the first game of the season against St Mirren, but not since then.

"I've not started all that many games, but I'm not all that surprised as the manager was always going to back John Sutton. He's a more experienced player and doing a great job here. I just need to bide my time.

"John's been great. I've watched him for a few years now, even when he was here before. He's good to look up to. I'd like us to play together if possible as we've done it earlier in the season at Ross County."

Speaking about his efforts on Saturday against Celtic, Erwin added: "I just tried to get forward as much as possible when I got on, especially with just 10 men by that point [Simon Ramsden received a straight red].

"We wanted to try to get something out of the game. Lionel and I went on and tried to make an impact. Sitting on the bench watching Celtic miss all those chances I began to think we could take something from the game. But it wasn't to be."