Celtic ucl

Lennon hopeful of UCL
group stage
21 Aug 2013 05:54:32
Celtic manager Neil
Lennon says his side's
Champions League hopes
are far from over after
they suffered a shock 2-0
defeat to Kazakh minnows
Shakhter Karagandy in the
first leg of their play-off
match.
The Scottish champions
dominated possession in
the Astana Arena with Kris
Commons hitting the
woodwork and James
Forrest seeing his effort
clawed off the line by
'keeper Alexsandr Mokin
as the Hoops came close
to a crucial away goal.
But they struggled to
contain Shakhter's
counter-attacking style
and went behind to a 12th
minute Andrei Fionchenko
strike before Sergei
Khizhnichenko doubled
their lead in the 76th
minute when he headed
past Fraser Forster from
close range.
The defeat leaves Celtic,
who reached the last 16 of
the competition last
season, with a lot of work
to do in next
Wednesday's return leg in
Glasgow and puts
Shakhter in the driving
seat to become the first
Kazakhstan side to reach
the group stages of the
Champions League.
However, Lennon was
bullish about his side's
chances and says he saw
enough in their
performance to know
they have a great chance
to turn things around at
Celtic Park.
"It was a disappointing
result, but we should
have scored and then that
would have put a different
complexion on the tie," he
said.
"However, it's not over
yet. We have to go back
to Celtic Park and there
was plenty there for me
to chew on in terms of
chances.
"Shakhter didn't surprise
us with the way they
played. We knew they
would throw balls
forward and we should
have dealt with the first
goal a lot better and the
second goal they had a bit
of luck with.
"I didn't really feel
uncomfortable in the
game at all. I thought we
would score and that
would put a totally
different complexion on
the tie, but the fact that we
didn't just makes it that
little bit more difficult now.
"I don't know how many
chances we had tonight -
clear cut ones as well -and
if you don't take your
chances then you make
life difficult for yourself.
"But we're not down and
out just yet."
Celtic have lost a number
of key players in the
summer including
influential midfielder Victor
Wanyama, defender
Kelvin Wilson and last
season's top-scorer Gary
Hooper.
But Lennon was reluctant
to blame their loss as a
contributing factor to his
side's performance in
Kazakhstan and warned
his current crop of stars
that he wanted to see an
instant improvement.
"There were a few players
who will be disappointed
with their performances
and they better get better
very quickly," added
Lennon.
"I think I've still got
enough in the squad to
come through the tie, so
that's what we'll
endeavour to do."