The reputation of the diary was shattered yesterday ( what reputation ? -Ed ) \u00a0when Kris Commons scored the odd goal in six minutes that gave Celtic a win over Dinamo Zagreb in the Europa League. The Diary, of course, had predicted a win by the odd goal in five….<\/p>\n
Of course thats what I meant. what else could it have been ?<\/p>\n
A hugely improved Celtic side played with the heart more than the head, and the supreme effort paid off. There were particularly outstanding performances from Craig Gordon, all of the defenders, despite one or two hairy moments when the heart did overrule the head, and Scott Brown and Stefan Johansen managed to harry and harass the Zagreb midfield into mostly taking potshots from distance.<\/p>\n
The tireless Anthony Stokes and Kris Commons up front meant that the Croatian defence could never settle, and the two were unfortunate not to take advantage when a complacent keeper gave the ball way in front of goal.<\/p>\n
The goal came when Emilio Izaguerre, who worked well with Wakaso Mubarak on the left, crossed a low ball to Commons, who forgot to take it with him on his run toward goal, but a helpful Stokes threaded it through to him, and Commons supplied the type of finish that made him the top scorer last season.<\/p>\n
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The particular scare from the defence came when all three defenders ran toward a Zagreb player in possession wide right, leaving them a man over in the middle, and it was only a superb save from Gordon that kept the Celts in the lead.<\/p>\n
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Aside from that, only Wilson Eduardo, the Zagreb winger , made any sort of impression, again with shots either straight at the keeper, or straight at the crowd.<\/p>\n
Manager Ronny Deila praised the players , well, I think he did;<\/p>\n
\u201cThey (Zagreb )\u00a0have a system that you can see they’ve used for a long time and they were comfortable on the ball.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWe need to have longer periods like we had in the first-half and if we do that we are going to be hard to handle.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIf we get the six points against FC Astra then we will have a good chance of going through. If you look at the average points of the teams that have gone through in the last few years I think it\u2019s around 9.8 or something, but it seems like now there are three teams that are very equal and it will be a fight until the end.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWe know we are in a process. Some players, especially in midfield, haven\u2019t played too many matches but they worked so hard. I\u2019m proud of them and I know we will continue developing and we will be very good.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n He certainly singled out the excellent Craig Gordon, who on current form would have given Fraser Forster ( Who ? )\u00a0a real battle for the number one shirt;<\/p>\n \u201cCraig was fantastic. He can\u2019t do much better so what he has shown is fantastic. He is very calm and gives his defence confidence.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWe are in a good position and it\u2019s important to win. The fans were fantastic and behind the team for the full match. That\u2019s why Celtic have won so many games at home.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWe have to keep on but every game is different and we are looking forward to playing FC Astra.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The club, incidentally, presumably alarmed at the lower than usual crowd last night, wasted no time in promoting the Astra games;<\/p>\n CELTIC moved to the top of Group D in the UEFA Europa League with an important home win over Croatian champions GNK Dinamo Zagreb last night to set up a crucial match with FC Astra in three weeks time \u2013 the first of a double header against the Romanian cup winners.<\/em><\/p>\n FC Astra currently prop up the table with no points from their opening two matches so the Hoops will be looking to capitalise on home advantage and stay ahead of the pack in their quest to qualify for the knock-out stages of the competition.<\/em><\/p>\n Manager Ronny Deila was quick to praise the fans who backed the team last night at Celtic Park saying they were \u201cfantastic\u201d. You can be part of club\u2019s journey in the Europa League by being in Paradise for the FC Astra match on Thursday, October 23.<\/em><\/p>\n Tickets for this match and the match against FC Salzburg are now on general sale priced from \u00a325 for Adults, from \u00a320 for Concessions and from \u00a317 for Under 13s.<\/em><\/p>\n Tickets can be purchased ONLINE<\/a>, by calling 0871 226 1888* or by visiting the Celtic Ticket Office. Booking fees apply. <\/em><\/p>\n