Soccer

Celtic book place in play-offs after doing enough in Sweden

Draw for the play-off takes place tomorrow

IF Elfsborg’s Mohamed Bangura battles for possession with Celtic’s Scott Brown during last night’s Uefa Champions League qualification game in Boras, Sweden.
IF Elfsborg’s Mohamed Bangura battles for possession with Celtic’s Scott Brown during last night’s Uefa Champions League qualification game in Boras, Sweden.
Wed Aug 07 2013 - 22:20

Elfsborg 0 Celtic 0 (Celtic win 1-0 on aggregate)
Celtic booked their place in the Champions League play-offs as a goalless draw against Elfsborg in Boras gave Neil Lennon's men a slender aggregate win.

Celtic travelled to Sweden for the second leg of their third qualifying round with a Kris Commons goal to defend, and while it was not a great display from manager Lennon’s team they did enough to get through the tie.

On the Swedish club’s artificial surface, both teams had chances in an opening 45 minutes with Elfsborg’s on-loan striker, Mo Bangura, missing a sitter against his parent club.

By comparison the second half was dour, and while the final stages were tense the Scottish champions remained solid to the end.

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The draw for the play-off takes place tomorrow, with the Parkhead club a step closer to the lucrative group stages of the competition from which they emerged last season to reach the last 16 of the competition.

Set to leave
Much of the speculation before the game centred on Celtic's defender Kelvin Wilson with it being reported he would play his last game for Celtic before returning to Nottingham Forest, and Lennon confirmed after the final whistle that he looks set to depart.

The Englishman shrugged off shin splint problems to take his place in the Celtic rearguard as forward Georgios Samaras also came back into the side after recovering from a toe injury, leaving no place for Anthony Stokes.

Bangura had recovered from a leg knock and in the sixth minute, from a Stefan Ishizaki cross, he went close with a spectacular overhead kick from just inside the box, the ball sliding just past Fraser Forster’s left-hand post.

The erratic striker from Sierre Leone had a great chance in the 28th minute when Ishizaki swung in another fine cross from wide on the right.

Bangura slipped away from Celtic defender Efe Ambrose easily enough but his header from 10 yards lacked conviction as it looped over the bar. Between those chances, however, the Scottish champions could have twice taken the lead and probably killed off the home side.

Great chance
In the 12th minute Samaras spurned a great chance when Swedish right-back Mikael Lustig reached the byline before crossing for the unmarked Greek striker but he headed high over the bar from 10 yards.

In the 20th minute Celtic had another opportunity when Elfsborg defender Jon Jonsson clumsily handled the ball 25 yards from goal, preventing Samaras getting through.

Commons’ driven free-kick broke off the defensive wall to Joe Ledley who shot straight at goalkeeper Kevin Stuhr-Ellegaard. In the 69th minute Stokes replaced the struggling Samaras before Bangura set up Henning Hauger to blaze over the bar.

As the match entered its final stages the Swedes became increasingly desperate but the Celtic defence restricted them to very few chances and saw the match out with a degree of comfort.


IF ELFSBORG: Stuhr-Ellegaard, Johan Larsson, Jonsson, Mobaeck (Soderberg 33), Klarstrom (Elm 84), Keene, Svensson, Ishizaki, Hauger (Hedlund 75), Rohden, Bangura. Subs Not Used: Hassan, Stefan Larsson, Jorgensen, Claesson. Booked: Hedlund.
CELTIC: Forster, Lustig, Ambrose, Wilson, Izaguirre, Forrest, Brown, Ledley, Mulgrew (Matthews 74), Commons, Samaras (Stokes 69). Subs Not Used: Zaluska, Balde, Mouyokolo, Watt, Kayal. Booked: Stokes, Brown.
Referee: Vladislav Bezborodov (Russia).