home comforts could still make up for away disappointments in the Champions League

Of all the traditions that Celtic has dispensed over recent years, the one that few of us will yearn for its return is the one where, after a reasonably promising start to the season, the team would implode during the month of October. Almost inevitably this would involve improbable results in the SPL against some of the league's perennial relegation fodder and would usually be topped off by an ignominious exit from the big stage having been gubbed by an unlikely assortment of Eastern European PE students and accompanying tradesmen.

This autumn, progress in the league has been serene: three victories, ten goals scored, none conceded and maximum points. The net result has been the opening of a five point gap at the top of the table now that Rangers have discovered what John Keats meant when he wrote about this time of year being the season of 'misses and fellows five points less'.

It might be too soon to talk of their imminent demise but their league challenge is beginning to look distinctly peely wally. All of which might help to explain why there was a mood of barely restrained optimism during last month when it came round to playing proper football again and why there were such high hopes that Celtic might return from their away fixture in Brussels with our much coveted first away point in the Champions League.

Unfortunately, on planet proper football Lyon are no Livingston, Munich are no Motherwell and Anderlecht, despite sneaky suspicions to the contrary before the match, are no Aberdeen. They might have been the least feared of all the teams in Group A before the competition began, and they might have had only one point beside their name prior to the Celtic match with their feet firmly on the trapdoor, but the Belgian team put in the kind of performance we're used to seeing from the Hoops at home and made sure it wasn't just those fans who had been over-indulging in local singing ginger who were feeling more than a little queasy on the Thursday morning.

Predictably, the inquests weren't slow in starting: Celtic had been too cautious and Liam Miller should have been on from the start were two of the findings most widely circulated. Possibly these were contributory factors, but on the night there was ample evidence to suggest that Celtic were more than capable of getting a precious point. Chances were made and missed but the Hoops were up against a team playing for their lives and it wasn't really much of a help when the home side were left a man short. Anderlecht were obviously suffering from a sense of grievous injustice at the loss of de Boeck and the remaining ten men went about their business like demons to compensate for his loss.

Celtic had a few players who never played to form, two good chances were missed, and at Champions League level that's the difference between a great night and a kick in the nethers.

The form book suggests that with 12 away wins out of 48 matches since this season's competition started (and some of them were real shockers like Brugge beating Milan in the San Siro and Manchester United beating Rangers at Ibrox ... nah, only kidding about that second one) it's more difficult to secure an away win in the Champions League than some people seem to think. Indeed, none of the teams in Group A has actually managed to achieve that particular feat yet, with only Bayern having picked up any points at all on their travels.

Thankfully, the flip side of that coin means that we should go into our two remaining home games with the odds slightly in our favour. While Bayern are well capable of getting a result anywhere, Anderlecht have the reputation of being like a Belgian claret - they don't travel well. The way things are going nine points might just be enough.

That said, it's going to take another two performances to match that memorable night against Lyon if we're to keep the pot boiling much longer.

MANFRED LURKER