Thirteen proved lucky for Celtic as they clinched their place in the draw for the second round of the UEFA Cup after being given an almighty scare by HJK Helsinki.

The Parkhead club came into the game with a two-goal cushion from the first leg only to see that wiped out as Paulus Roiha scored twice for the Finnish hosts to send the tie into extra-time.

But £6 million signing Chris Sutton was in the right place at the right time to rescue Celtic's European ambitions just when a penalty shoot-out appeared inevitable.

This was Celtic manager Martin O'Neill's first defeat since taking control of the club 13 games ago - but he would have been a relieved man at the final whistle as fortune favoured his side, who almost suffered a humiliating exit.

The poor state of the pitch made the roll of the ball a lottery at times, but Celtic could not blame the surface in the fourth minute as they almost suffered a nightmare start.

Peter Kopteff took Toni Kallio's clever flick in his stride down the left and hit a cross that had goalkeeper Jonathan Gould desperately scurrying back across his goalline and he was relieved to see it bounce off the top of the crossbar.

Moments later, Celtic should have killed the tie dead when Jackie McNamara's punt downfield had Markus Heikkinen in big trouble and Henrik Larsson dispossessed him before trying a lob which just dropped over the bar.

Celtic should have broken the deadlock in a frantic three minutes which saw the home side let off the hook again.

First Slovakian referee Ladislav Gadosi waved away their protests for a penalty in the 20th minute when Stilian Petrov was brought down in the area by goalkeeper Jani Viander after Berkovic had played him through, and the Bulgarian was booked for diving.

The midfielder was involved again moments later in a move which deserved a goal when Petrov ran onto Paul Lambert's through-ball but saw his strike come back off the upright and Larsson curled the rebound around the post.

Helsinki then hauled themselves back into the tie with a goal from Roiha four minutes before the break as Aleksei Yeremenko played him through on goal and he comfortably slid the ball past the onrushing Gould.

Then disaster struck in the 75th minute when the Finns levelled the tie after a blunder from Gould. The Celtic keeper saved an initial shot, but he managed to spill the ball into the path of Roiha and he sidefooted home off the post.

Celtic had claims for a penalty turned down in the 81st minute when Larsson went to the ground under the challenge of Heikkinen.

With five minutes remaining, the ball broke to substitute Colin Healy in the box, but he blazed his effort just over the bar and in the last minute McNamara blasted wide and the game went into extra-time.

Celtic were stunned by the fightback from the Finns, but just five minutes into extra-time Larsson squandered a glorious chance.

Petta cut the ball back and the Swede side-footed wide from just six yards out.

Celtic continued to pressure the Finns and Larsson almost bagged the all-important goal when he took Sutton's pass in his stride and beat keeper Viander, but he lost his footing at the crucial stage, allowing Aarno Turpeinen to get back and clear off the line.

But Celtic did get their reward in the 117th minute when Moravcik fired across the face of goal and Sutton slid in to direct past Viander in the home net to save the Glasgow side.