Brave Bhoys come close to miracle comeback

Celtic 4 Artmedia Bratislava 0 (Artmedia Bratislava win 5-4 on aggregate)

Gordon Strachan grabbed his first victory as Celtic manager tonight and went some way to winning back the hearts of his players and the supporters.

But, despite a valiant effort from his players, the Glasgow giants could not provide the miracle they had dreamed about following last week’s humiliating 5-0 drubbing in Slovakia.

They gave it one hell of a try and Artmedia a hell of a scare with goals from Alan Thompson, John Hartson, Stephen McManus and Craig Beattie making them believe they could pull off a mission impossible – only to run out of time.

Strachan made a brave team selection after the 4-4 draw with Motherwell by handing competitive debuts to Artur Boruc, at the expense of Scotland keeper David Marshall, Bobo Balde came back after being dropped for Stanislav Varga and Shaun Maloney and Aiden McGeady made way for Ross Wallace and Maciej Zurawski.

Celtic knew that they had to make a flying start and they came close to a dream opener after just five minutes.

Hartson, who scored a hat-trick at Motherwell, held the ball up well and then fed the overlapping Wallace but he blazed his right-foot effort just over from nine yards.

Every time Celtic failed to make the most of an attacking move, the frustration of the crowd increased.

Hartson was unhappy with Zurawski in the 20th minute when Stilian Petrov found him in the box but he selfishly screwed his right-foot effort wide.

But the temperature was raised again in the 21st minute when Zurawski fooled Ondrej Debnar with a clever turn in the box which prompted the Artmedia defender to pull him down to earn a booking and more importantly a penalty.

Hartson was far from convincing from the spot on Saturday and Thompson picked up the ball up and calmly sent goalkeeper Juraj Cobej the wrong way.

Thompson was then booked for a foul on Blazej Vascak on the half-hour before Paul Telfer almost guaranteed that Celtic were on their way out.

The summer signing was brushed off the ball by Balazs Borbely, from Jan Kozak’s clever through-ball but the ball bounced fortunately to Boruc.

Juraj Halenar also looked keen to add to his hat-trick in Bratislava and he fired just wide with a speculative long-range effort but they showed little of their first leg threat.

The crowd were screaming unfairly at Wallace in the 42nd minute after Cobej had unconvincingly pushed out Thompson’s stinging free-kick and the youngster had failed to pick out a team-mate from the rebound.

Wallace was clattered with seconds to go before half-time but the referee played a great advantage and Hartson took his header in his stride and blasted the ball past Cobej with Jan Durica still off the pitch after having his shirt ripped by the Welshman earlier.

After the break, all the Celtic players returned with sponsors logos on their shirts after they were omitted from all but three shirts in the first period.

Strachan decided to make a change after seven minutes of the first-half by swapping Wallace with Maloney and he made an instant impact.

The Scotland international directed Thompson’s corner into the danger area and Stephen McManus, who was criticised at the weekend, stooped to force his header into the back of the net.

Celtic sensed a miracle was on the cards and Hartson almost produced a moment of magic in the 57th minute when, even though he was on the floor, he saw the goalkeeper off his line and swivelled to try a lob which just cleared the top of the crossbar.

Artmedia failed to give Boruc any of the problems Marshall experienced last week and, even when Kozak pulled a free-kick back for Bransilav Fodrek moments later, his team-mate blazed over wildly leave them hanging on to a slender lead.

Strachan took another gamble, throwing on last-gasp weekend hero Craig Beattie for Zurawski.

Maloney then went close in the 63rd minute when Hartson knocked Mohammed Camara’s cross down to the youngster but he whistled a right-foot volley just past the angle.

The striker almost set up a grandstand finish in the 70th minute when Hartson and Beattie combined to send him through but he could not force the ball past Cobej.

Beattie then hit the post with a header and Petrov went wide with an overhead kick to suggest it was just not going to be their night.

Beattie came up trumps again with nine minutes left and the dream was on after he headed Camara’s cross emphatically home from nine yards.

Halenar could have eased the nerves of the shell-shocked visitors but he blazed his right-foot shot just over moments later.

The fourth official put up the board to indicate three minutes stoppage time to a chorus of boos.

Celtic could not find a fifth goal but the players departed to a great reception from the supporters and under-pressure Strachan looked to have made some new friends.