IN THE fog of Giurgiu, Celtic could not quite see their way clear to qualifying for the knockout stages of the Europa League.

With Red Bull Salzburg demolishing Dinamo 5-1 in Zagreb to secure one of the qualification spots, a victory for Ronny Deila's side would have put them through.

They led through a Stefan Johansen goal after 32 minutes but with ten minutes to go substitute William Amorim equalised.

However, they still have two games to get the maximum two points required to push them over the line, the first against Salzburg in Glasgow on November 27, the second in Croatia on December 11.

Given the lead they held and the decision to disallow a goal from Leigh Griffiths in the final minutes for what the referee considered to be a push on defender Cristian Oros, Deila's side will, however, consider this an opportunity missed - or should that be mist?

Through the mists of time and their 299 previous European ties Celtic have surely never faced a more distracting build-up to a major tie.

It was only minutes before the scheduled kick-off time that Ukrainian referee Serhiy Boiko agreed to let this game in the fog-bound Marin Anastasovici Stadium go ahead.

Along with the other match officials and Uefa delegates he deliberated long and hard in the freezing conditions. The option, should a postponement be deemed necessary, was to play the game at 1pm today.

The consequences for Celtic would have considerable, given that they are scheduled to play at Aberdeen at lunchtime on Sunday.

However, whether or not the referee saw sense, or just enough of the pitch, he decided they should give it a go, hoping, undoubtedly, the fog did not intensify.

Through the gloom, the 2500 who were straining their eyes from the stands - around 1100 of them Celtic fans - saw that both goalkeepers had their eye in from the start.

Silviu Lung was first to warm himself up with a spectacular flying save to deny Johansen, who had thumped in a shot from an Emilio Izaguirre cross.

Craig Gordon was not to be outdone, however, and made an even more impressive flying tip-over when Seidu Yahaha threatened to put the home side ahead 10 minutes later with a powerful drive from 14 yards.

The Scotland international made another important stop, from Vassilis Pliatsikis with 15 minutes remaining, before finally having to concede defeat in the closing stages when Amorim curled a terrific shot out of his reach and into the top corner.

Had Gordon cost Celtic £5million, rather than being acquired on a free, he would still have proved his worth to them this season, particularly on the European stage.

The 31-year-old's heroics in these big games have endeared him to a support which feared the loss of Fraser Forster in the summer would be impossible to make up for.

However, it requires more than an excellent keeper to get victories in competitions like the Europa League.

And, once again, the men selected by Deila, on the whole, showed cohesion and unity in constructing a barrier which Astra found difficult to breach and a goal threat they found impossible to deny.

When Celtic did make the breakthrough the depth of their scoring potency shone through.

A free-kick by Charlie Mulgrew - who had a good effort pushed on to a post by Lung in the closing stages of the game - did not manage to get beyond the defensive wall.

But the ball broke kindly for Johansen, who needed no second invitation to fire a volley beyond the despairing dive of Lung.

The keeper could not use the conditions as an excuse as, by then, visibility had improved markedly.

The Norwegian, deployed in an advanced midfield position for the night, had provided what turned out to be the winning goal when Celtic defeated Astra in Glasgow a fortnight ago, and his influence on this side is growing in tandem with his strike rate.

Stefan Scepovic can only hope his Celtic career follows a similar trajectory, and the Serbian was given another opportunity to make his mark when Deila invited him to lead the line in the absence of the ineligible John Guidetti - the SPFL Premiership player of the month for October - and the sick Anthony Stokes.

Before being replaced by Griffiiths with 18 minutes remaining, his best chance came courtesy of Johansen, who had sent him clear just after half-time, but, having taken a touch, Scepovic sent his second disappearing into the hazy night sky.

With Mubarak Wakaso and Callum McGregor on hand to provide ammunition from the wide midfield areas, along with the overlapping Mikael Lustig and Izaguirre, the positive approach from Deila was worthy of an equally positive result.

It did mean Astra would get chances, however, and Sadat Bukari breached their lines to get a run in on goal just before the break.

Just as he prepared to take aim, Virgil van Dijk's speed allowed him to get back to challenge, forcing the striker to fall on to the ball and concede a free-kick for hand ball.

Constantin Budescu managed to break free of his markers early in the second half. The moment proved too much for the captain, however, and his shot was wildly off target.

He did show his quality soon after with a long-range drive which Gordon was happy to see go wide of his right- hand post.

The news that Salzburg were holding up their end of the bargain by leading in Zagreb meant that there was increased pressure on Celtic not to let their lead slip because, effectively, they were there.

It proved to be a task beyond them, even with Vincent Laban shown a red card for a horrendous tackle on Mulgrew in stoppage time.

Van Dijk and Scott Brown were also cautioned in a tousy contest from which Celtic had to settle for a point when they could and should have got all three.