GORDON DELIGHTED BY CELTS’ DEFENCE

CELTIC demolished Astana 5-0 in the first leg of their Champions League play-off tie on Wednesday night but goalkeeper Craig Gordon knows a water-tight defence remains key to European progression

The Hoops all but guaranteed a place in the group stage on a dramatic night at Parkhead where Scott Sinclair grabbed a double and James Forrest notched, with t wo own goals to boot.

Brendan Rodgers’ side have yet to concede in five qualifying ties and t he Scotland keeper wants to keep that record intact in the return game in Kazakhstan next Tuesday, and moving f orward i n Europe this season.

Gordon said: “We have done well, especially defensively, we have looked really solid.

“We have not given up any goals, so we are happy with that.

“If we can go and do that away from home I will be very happy because I am sure we can nick something on the break.

“We still have to go and do the job over there, be organised and finish it off.

“It is a great start. We don’t want to be too over the top at this stage.

“We certainly put ourselves in a great position and if we go out there and defend well we are confident we can get goals at the other end.

“It is a good result, a big result.”

Celtic travel to Kilmarnock for tomorrow’s televised game (ko 12.30).