Champions League Qualifying Round 2
Tuesday 21st September 2004

Celtic 4

Artmedia Bratislava 0

1:0 Thompson 22 pen
2:0 Hartson 45
3:0 McManus 54
4:0 Beattie 82

Att: 50,063

Ref: Mallenco (Spain)

Celtic: Boruc Telfer Balde McManus Camara Petrov Lennon Thompson Wallace Zurawski Hartson
subs
Maloney for Wallace 53
Beattie for Zurawski 63
Aliadiere for Thompson 87

The greatest comeback in European history doesn't materialise and we stumble out at the first hurdle. Only Celtic could contrive a situation whereby we will be in pot B for the group stage - and theoretically one of the top 12 clubs in Europe - only to lose to a team straight out of pot H. And of course we saw here with our own eyes just how potent a force they really were.

The game started with a move that could have come from the early 90s and Big Billy's Book of Mysterious Tactics; play Ross Wallace, a decidedly left sided player on the right hand side of midfield. Still can't work it out, although he did contribute to the second goal, albeit in a most unlikely fashion, by winning a header to put Hartson in.

That was the second, the first had been a penalty after Zurawski actually did something by gathering the ball in the box then turning and waiting for the stupid tackle. Not for very long, it must be said. Thompson scored.

So we were 2:0 up at the break, and of course they were only 1 ahead in the first game. It could still happen.

Maloney came on in the second half and the pace of the game changed. In fact he instantly made the third, clipping the ball back for McManus to head in. But then it was all close things, with the 'keeper making an unbelievable save from maloney with 15 minutes to go. If that goes in then we could have done it, but if a frog had wings he wouldn't bump his arse hopping.

The fact is it didn't go in and even though Beattie got a fourth with a few minutes left we simply ran out of time. Of course we weren't helped by the fact that the ref appeared not to know the rules on adding time (30 seconds for each goal, sub and injury, which should have given us five minutes, not three). But this tie wasn't lost because of that; it was lost because our most experienced players - most of whom played in a European final barely two years ago - couldn't be bothered to defend competently the week before.

They now have a whole season of playing no one but the usual suspects. They had better find a way of making that entertaining.