A POSITIVE week for Scottish football should always be welcomed – and without getting carried away, it’s been a good couple of days.

Both of our teams still in European competition, Celtic and Aberdeen, have a great chance of reaching the play-off round for the Champions League and Europa League respectively.

Some doomsayers may put this down, but West Ham United lost in Europe to a Slovenian side on Thursday and so two draws at this stage of summer were far from the worst results we have witnessed.

Let’s look at Celtic are favourites, I would say, to get past Astana. The performance in Kazakhstan was not 100 per cent.

However, the result is what counts and every supporter, and certainly Brendan Rodgers, would have taken a 1-1 before Wednesday’s game.

I thought it was a mature display in many ways. They responded well to going a goal down and the Leigh Griffiths equaliser, an excellent strike, was a great moment.

The referee, Paolo Mazzolen of Italy, is someone I have seen a lot of when covering games in Serie A.

He didn’t do Celtic a lot of favours and the Astana players were not afraid to put the boot in – or to boot the ball right at Kieran Tierney, as they did right at the end.

Celtic took all that on board, dealt with it, as you need to do in away European matches, and got on with things.

That didn’t happen in previous seasons. Way too often when things went against them in the Champions League qualifiers they struggled to work out what they should do next. Not on Wednesday.

A draw in Kazakhstan against a side with a good pedigree is more than credible, if you look at the results Astana have pulled off in recent years.

BUT I urge some caution. Celtic supporters should not be mistaken that this tie is done and dusted.

It is misleading to claim that Astana don’t travel well. They will believe they can get through in Glasgow.

Their last three away ties in Champions League qualifiers have ended in a draw. They know how to get results on their travels and travel pretty well. It is a myth to say that they will not be able to handle a six-hour flight. This tie is very much alive.

Celtic Park remains a huge advantage to Brendan Rodgers and his players.

That is why I think they will qualify for the play-offs which, if you get some luck in the draw, might well give them weaker opposition.

It is so important for Celtic to make the group stages this time and they have given themselves a great chance to do so.

As for Aberdeen, a 1-1 draw with Maribor is far from a disaster. They can go to Slovenia and score.

They did that three times last year in Rijeka and scored in Almaty as well.

This team know how to get an away goal and I have a feeling they can do that in Maribor, who have a habit of putting out our clubs.

Before the game I actually thought that playing the first leg at Pittodrie would be good for Aberdeen, that it would suit them. I hope they can prove me right.

My fear is that they are too weak at the back. Ash Taylor has never really convinced and if Derek McInnes can steer his side into the play-offs then he really must buy a centre-half before the deadline.

You can’t expect to be a top two team in the Scottish Premiership and be deserving of going forward in Europe if you can’t keep clean sheets.

It would be a boost for our game if Celtic and Aberdeen can get through.

It’s been too long since one club, never kind two of them, have been able to look back on a European campaign and describe it as anything close to a success.

Is this the season?