EDLAND
partly to blame for the second goal.
A nothing ball into the Celtic box should have been dealt with by Gordon who inexplicably allowed it to bounce, Janko barged into him, the ball got loose, Hoban said thanks very much and scored from close range. It was an excruciating moment for both defender and goalkeeper
Now what did Celtic have? It looked at this stage as if many of their players had gone. They couldn’t pass or make a tackle. Rodgers wore the look of a man who couldn’t quite believe what was going on in front of him.
Moussa Dembele replaced the knackered Griffiths and on the hour the Frenchman cut in from the left and sent his curled shot a coat of paint wide of the post.
CELTIC nearly scored again four minutes later when Rogic did well to get a past a few tackles on the edge of the box, the ball broke to Sinclair who got off a shot, which was well saved by David Goresh, and Dembele was in an offside position when he missed the rebound. Sinclair really should have done better.
But still came Hapoel. A brilliant scissor-kick from Hoban on 68 minutes was a fraction wide and then he tested Gordon with a well-executed shot on the bounce from outside the area.
Celtic, the fans, players and manager began praying for the final whistle – it was that part of the world after all. They got away with it, just.