LEIGH Griffiths, the striker whose late goal earned Celtic a 1-1 draw with Astana the first leg of the Champions League third qualifying round yesterday, today backed his side to win their rematch next week progress to the play-off.

Griffiths netted a precious away strike for Brendan Rodgers’s side in the 78th minute of the match in the Astana Arena here in Kazakhstan to make the Scottish champions favourites to progress to the next round.

The Scotland internationalist is confident the Glasgow club can put the tie to bed when they face Stanimir Stoilov’s team at Celtic Park next Wednesday night and move a step closer to the lucrative group stages of the competition.

READ MORE: Rodgers concerned about set piece foul-up despite Champions League draw with AstanaGlasgow Times: 23/07/16   .  CELTIC v LEICESTER CITY .  CELTIC PARK - GLASGOW  .  Celtic's Leigh Griffiths.

“Coming away from home, we would have taken a 1-1 draw,” he said. “We knew it was going to be a hostile atmosphere with a lot of noise and that they would come at us. But apart from the goal we conceded, they didn’t create a lot of chances.

“Of course we fancy our chances. The crowd at home will create a lot more noise and we’ll be back on grass, which will be a bonus for us and maybe not for them. They will also have to adjust to the time difference over in Scotland.

READ MORE: Rodgers concerned about set piece foul-up despite Champions League draw with Astana

“With the five-hour time difference, it’ll be like playing at two o’clock in the morning for them and that can help us. Back being on grass and moving it quickly, we can cause them problems.

“Had we been better on a couple of occasions with the final pass, we could have scored more. The manager said from the first day that he came in that he was going to make us more compact and hard to beat. If we keep playing the way we did in the second half, we will be hard to beat. Like I said, they didn’t create much clear cut, but we had a threat.”

Griffiths added: “I loved the goal. You can’t go sprinting about, but you also need to enjoy moments like that. To score an away goal was massive and hopefully we can go and finish the job in the second leg.Glasgow Times: Leigh Griffiths struck for Celtic in the 78th minute

“We knew there was going to be pressure with the likes of corners and throw-ins, but we knew if we could keep it tight in the second half, we’d get a chance. Fortunately for me, the ball fell at my feet and I’ve managed to put it away.

“I’m always confident of scoring goals, no matter what level that I’m playing at. I’m confident of scoring, it’s just about getting the ball in the right places at the right times. My decision making could be better on occasions, but, thankfully, I’ve scored an important away goal here and we’ll look to go back to Celtic Park and finish the job.”

READ MORE: Rodgers concerned about set piece foul-up despite Champions League draw with Astana

The match at the Astana Arena was marred by bad tempered scenes as Celtic and Astana players clashed during injury-time at the end of the game and Scott Brown was booked for his involvement in the exchanges. However, Griffiths is confident there will no lingering resentment between the teams when they meet at Celtic Park next week.

“One of their players got frustrated and volleyed the ball at KT (Kieran Tierney) so there was a bit of arguing about that,” he said. “They were frustrated at losing a goal but two minutes later we shook hands and forgot about it.

“Did I get elbowed? There was a bit of handbags and one of their man went down. Both of us could have been booked to be honest. The ref could have let it go but I was the one who got booked. But I managed to silence the crowd a few minutes later so it worked out fine.”

Rodgers had to field Eoghan O’Connell, the 20-year-old Irish defender, due to Erik Sviatchenko being ruled out with a groin strain and Griffiths stated that he was impressed with how the defender performed in difficult circumstances.

“Eoghan did really well,” he said. “He had a couple of slack passes in the first half but he grew in confidence as the game went on. He coped really well against Leicester at the weekend and showed that he can cope with these games at this level.

“He strolled it against the English Champions and the manager had no qualms about throwing him in. You could see why. He was excellent.”

Griffiths, meanwhile, has revealed that he was unhappy that Celtic weren’t awarded a penalty after falling 1-0 behind in the first half after Moussa Dembele was brought down in the Astana penalty area.

“It looked a stonewall penalty from where I was standing on the pitch,” he said. “Moussa got past his man and he wouldn’t have missed from there.

“He was in on goal and got pulled down. For me it’s a stonewall penalty. I turned round and saw the gaffer and he was asking the fourth official. The ref said he got the ball and it was one of those decisions that go against you. Hopefully they even themselves out over the course of the season.