Astana 1 Celtic 1: Leigh Griffiths to the rescue with play-off in sight

Brendan Rodgers’s team had fallen behind after 19 minutes in the first leg of the third qualifying round in the Astana Arena when Yuri Logvinenko netted at a corner.

But the Scottish champions did superbly to contain their hosts after that and they deservedly drew level through Griffiths with a strike late on.

Celtic now just have to draw with Astana, who were certainly decent but by no means brilliant, in the rematch at Parkhead next week in order to progress.

After getting such as positive result in a treacherous away game, they will be hopeful they can complete the job in front of their own fans and go through.

Rodgers had to make a huge call before kick-off over who to play at the back after Erik Sviatchenko, who would have been a certainty to start at centre half, was ruled out with a groin strain. The options available to him weren’t exactly attractive.

He had played Mikael Lustig in the heart of a three man back line in the pre-season friendly with Leicester City at Parkhead on Saturday and the Swede had performed well. He decided, though, against fielding Lustig out of position and gave the nod instead to Efe Ambrose and Eoghan O’Connell in a four man defence in a bold 4-4-2 formation.

Ambrose had been at fault for the Lincoln Red Imps goal in the humiliating defeat which Celtic had suffered in Gibraltar in the previous round. It was far from the first time he had cost his team dear with an individual error. The sight of the Nigerian in the starting line-up will have filled the small pocket of 100 or so Celtic fans who had made the 3,000 mile journey to Asia to see their team play.

O’Connell, the 20-year-old Irish defender, was asked to make his European debut in demanding circumstances. But he certainly started confidently by winning the ball in the first minute with a physical challenge which took Patrick Twumasi some time to recover from.

Ambrose certainly had his work cut out trying to shackle Junior Kabananga, the powerful Zairean striker who partnered Twumasi in attack for the home team. It wasn’t long before he had made his first error of the evening. He missed a Twumasi cutback from the byline in the 18th minute and was highly fortunate the ball was travelling too quickly for Kabananga to get on the end of it and net.

Astana, though, scored from the corner they won from that passage of play just a minute later. Twumasi whipped the ball into the box, Logvinenko peeled away from his marker O’Connell and headed in as Craig Gordon raced off his line rashly and unnecessarily.

The goal, the latest that Celtic had conceded at a set piece in Europe, brought the Astana fans, sensing another positive result against famous foreign opposition, who had packed the 30,000-capacity arena to their feet.

But Celtic quickly regrouped and were unfortunate not to have netted an equaliser just two minutes after falling behind. Moussa Dembele appeared to be brought down by Marin Anicic in the Astana area. Italian referee Paolo Mazzoleni ignored the ensuing appeals for a penalty.

A poorly executed attempt at a clearance by Ambrose on the half hour mark gifted Asat Nurgaliyev an unexpected scoring opportunity. Gordon partially atoned for his earlier error with a fine fingertip save after the midfielder tried to chip him. The keeper also did well to block a Kabananga shot from an acute angle just two minutes before half-time after Tierney had lost possession to Twumasi.

Rodgers’s team were by no means battered in the opening 45 minutes. Fra from it. Stanimir Stoilov, the Astana manager, had claimed his players, who are five months into their domestic season, were tired and would play a defensive game. He was true to his word. His charges sat deep for large swathes of the match and sought to counter attack.

Patrick Roberts skipped past Dmitri Shomko on his wing several occasions. He was, however, unable to supply either Dembele or Leigh Griffiths inside him. Far too often, he chose the wrong option or failed to pick out with a team mate with a pass.

He wasn’t the only culprit. Dembele was guilty of holding onto the ball for too long going forward when Celtic players were in space and better placed to score. The French forward was replaced by Nir Bitton in the 62nd minute.

Kabananga tried his luck from long-range early in the second half with a low drive across the slippery artificial surface which Gordon showed great composure to keep out with his body. Nurgaliyev also clipped the top of the crossbar with a shot from the edge of the penalty box shortly afterwards.

Not all of Ambrose’s play was calamitous. Indeed, he scooped the ball out of the path of Marin Anicic in the 68th minute when the centre half looked sure to score. He helped Celtic limit Astana to just one goal and give them an excellent chance of progressing.

James Forrest came on for Armstrong and Tom Rogic replaced Callum McGregor as the game wore on. But it was Roberts, who had been one of Celtic’s brightest performers, who set up Griffiths. The English winger laid the ball off for the Scottish forward to drill home

There was a bad-tempered exchange involving several players from both Astana and Celtic in the five minutes of additional time and Scott Brown was booked by Mazzoleni for his part in it. But that couldn’t take the shine of an excellent result.