JAMES FORREST pulled no punches today when he admitted Celtic blew a great chance - or chances - to take a healthy lead into the return leg of their play-off against Shakhter Karagandy.

The Scotland winger does not exonerate himself from blame, conceding that the header he had to equalise in the second half should have been steered away from keeper Aleksander Mokin, who managed to push it wide.

Now the Hoops go into the second leg a week tonight at Parkhead 2-0 down, and fully aware of the threat Shakhter pose on the break and at set-pieces.

Nevertheless, Forrest believes Celtic's resolve to be in next Thursday's draw for the group stage of the Champions League has only been strengthened by the way they failed to fire in Astana.

He said: "We had a lot of chances in the first half and we regret now not finishing any of them.

"I had a good chance and I should have done better. I wouldn't say it was a good save from him. I'd say it was a bad miss.

"But once we get them back to Celtic Park I am sure it will be different.

"We are disappointed about last night but we are already buzzing about next week."

Forrest had to watch as the Shakhter players celebrated at the final whistle last night as though they were already through.

He knows there is still a long way to go and is grateful the second leg is at home.

"The tie is certainly not over," Forrest insisted. "It is only half-time, basically. But we know we have to score a few at Celtic Park."

Forrest accepts that even with a full house behind them, they will have to defend much better than they did in Kazakhstan or risk conceding and making the task facing them even more daunting.

He said: "They were two bad goals to concede. We knew they were going to be like that, trying to catch us on the break and from throw-ins.

"But we are even more disappointed that we didn't score ourselves because we have been good at doing that in Europe.

"We have a very big game next week and we have to pick ourselves up for that.

"We will be on our own pitch, but I won't use the fact last night's game was on artificial grass as an excuse for the result.

"The surface was good, and we have played on artificial pitches a few times now, so that had nothing to do with what happened."

Shakhter coach Viktor Kumykov claimed his side's chances of representing Kazakhstan in the Champions League for the first time were only a little improved.

The Russian said: "We still believe Celtic have a chance to qualify.

"We believe the game in Glasgow will be even more difficult because Celtic are a more experienced team. We still have a chance - a little bit more of a chance than before the first game.

"We played very confidently but there is a second leg ahead of us and I expect we can get another good result.

"You need to play in a very disciplined and organised way and I think we did that."