It was pulsating, it was exciting. It offered intrigue and drama.

But ultimately it was a plotline Celtic have seen already this season.

Two goals to the good and a visiting team fighting to draw breath.

It should have been a glory night for Celtic under the bright floodlights on a crisp autumnal evening.

Instead, they were left to rue one rush of blood to the head that stained so much of the good work that had gone before it.

For the first 43 minutes of this game Ronny Deila’s side were excellent.

But that was before Efe Ambrose opted to make life interesting and it all began to unravel.

Reminded before the game that “we are in here for you, be out there for us,” by a massive Green Brigade banner, the Hoops players had put in a mature and confident display that earned them a solid 2-0 lead and had Fenerbahce cowed.

Yet, out of nothing Ambrose’s clumsy backward header gave the Turks a lifeline that the majority of their first-half play had not suggested.

With a slack backwards header that was never going to do anything other than leave Craig Gordon hideously exposed, substitute Fernandao nipped in to exploit the mistake and Celtic’s one moment of madness was duly punished.

It meant that Celtic headed into the break with heads bowed rather than chests out.

It was Fenerbahce who emerged from the break having scented blood and within three minutes of the restart all that good work of the opening half was undone.

Nani’s corner was bulleted by Fernandao past Gordon and suddenly the momentum was all with the visitors.

It has been the Achilles heel of Celtic’s season,an inability to stay focused at a set-piece coupled with a tendency to allow teams to slither off the hook when they ought to have been dead and buried.

Ronny Deila’s team were guilty of it against Malmo to great cost and those same frailties were exposed again against Fenerbahce.

The Europa League campaign is an opportunity for redemption of some sorts if they can get acquit themselves well in what is shaping up to be an intriguing group, but the sloppiness at this level is never going to leave them unscathed.

Having shipped two quick goals either side of the break, Celtic played as though they were performing on quicksand.

By contrast, Fenerbahce were rejuvenated and Celtic found themselves pinned in their own half as the Turks launched wave after wave of attack.

At one stage Gordon was forced to block a Diego attempt with his legs as Celtic desperately clawed for some composure.

Yet, while Deila will rue the unforced mistake that saw his team allow the points to slide from their grasp, there were positives to draw from some aspects of the night.

Kieran Tierney, just 18, was given the nod at left-back due to the suspension of Emilio Izaguirre and was not overawed by the occasion.

The teenager put in a solid display against the streetwise feet of Nani and was not afraid to get forward at times to offer a level of support.

The two best Celtic performers, though, were in the middle of the park. Scott Brown has had an indifferent start to the campaign after playing through a hamstring injury but he was at his best against Fenerbahce, snapping at the heels and breaking up play whenever required.

Nir Bitton, surely the next player to attract the Premiership cheque, also put in an exemplary shift and had a key role in teeing up Celtic’s second goal of the night.

It was the Israeli internationalist who sent James Forrest scampering down the flank before his ball into the box was lashed high into the net by Kris Commons.

Just four minutes earlier, with his first sniff of a chance, Leigh Griffiths had pot Celtic ahead.

Commons’ deep corner had prompted a cracker of a save from Fenerbahce keeper Fabiano after Mikael Lustig had connected but Griffiths, with the deft reflexes of a poacher, was quick to pounce and boot the ball high into the net.

Such was the confidence of Celtic at this stage that Commons could nutmeg Robin van Persie in a clever jink on the touchline. The Celtic player received an elbow in the face for his cheek, not that whistler Kenn Hansen nor his assistant caught sight of.

The second period was a different story. Slowly Celtic began to trouble Fenerbahce again and with a series of corners in the latter stages they worried their hosts. Celtic pushed for a late winner, but there was no dramatic twist in the tale.