THIS was an afternoon of worries and warnings for a Celtic side just days away from trying to breathe life into a Europa League campaign that is dangerously close to flatlining.

There must be real concern over the sheer lack of tempo, one of the most basic demands of their manager Ronny Deila, exhibited against a Kilmarnock team that defended manfully and very nearly got some joy on the break towards the end.

There was a dearth of creativity, too, in the joint absence of Kris Commons and Stefan Johansen. Dedryck Boyata was denied in stoppage-time with a header from a Leigh Griffiths corner that was tipped onto the crossbar by goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald, but that was too little and too late.

Scott Brown did return from four games out through a knee complaint, but he, too, has brought a degree of unease to the pre-match preparations for Thursday’s Europa League visit of Ajax. He hobbled through the closing moments following a lusty challenge on Tope Obadeyi with Deila insisting afterwards that his captain has assured him it is “just a knock”. It didn’t look like it.

On top of all that, there remains a red flag over Deila’s defence, torn apart so mercilessly during two ghastly displays against Molde. Having dominated the match, they allowed Kilmarnock to test Craig Gordon a couple of times in the closing stages before being sliced apart two minutes from the end by a slick counter-attack that could have been taken from the textbook of their Norwegian nemeses.

Celtic had gone to three at the back, admittedly, in search of a goal, but they were posted missing when Kallum Higginbotham took a forward pass from Obadeyi and sent Greg Kiltie straight through on goal. The substitute seemed to lose the ball under his feet a little in the area, though, and that permitted Simunovic to put in a saving tackle.

Deila claimed afterwards that he never felt his side were likely to concede. He must have missed that particular moment, but he was honest about other failings after the final whistle.

“It was very frustrating,” said Deila. “We had 70 per cent possession, but there was a lack of tempo, creativity and timing in the last third of the pitch.

“That has been the first time this year in the league.

“It is going to be a totally different game on Thursday. It will be a team that wants to attack us and have control of the game, so it will be a different approach.

“I understand why teams do what Kilmarnock did, but it is hard to come up against, especially when you don’t get the first goal. I was disappointed with the last 30 minutes because we started getting everyone in the centre of the pitch and it made it easier for them to defend because we are not a very physical team. We need to open spaces and stretch them out to create chances.”

This was a match played out in front of a sizeable number of empty seats around Celtic Park and the quality of the fare on the pitch was never likely to lift the atmosphere beyond the humdrum.

Were it not for James Forrest, dangerous and direct with the increasingly-rare ability of actually beating a man, there would have been little to excite at all. Even he lost interest towards the end, mind you.

In the initial stages, Celtic’s better chances came from long balls intended to allow Griffiths to get behind the visiting defence. Mikael Lustig picked him out with one on 17 minutes and he got the better of Mark Connolly to move into a promising position inside the area.

Kilmarnock’s Irish centre-back recovered well, though, and exerted just enough pressure on the home striker to disturb his balance and ensure that his effort, when finally delivered, was easy meat for goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald.

One pleasing element from the afternoon for Kilmarnock was that MacDonald was not often tested despite Celtic’s territorial advantage. He did have to look sharp seven minutes before the interval, however, when Simunovic directed a Stuart Armstrong corner inside the near post with a flick of the head and the ball had to be stopped on the goal-line.

It said something about the way the game was going that it took some rather weak claims for a sending-off in first half stoppage time to energise the home support. Magennis had earlier been booked for a challenge on Scott Brown and became involved in a tussle with Simunovic that ended with the Croat eating mud.

The punters on the far side certainly got most upset about it. In truth, they probably just fancied jumping up and down for a heat. It must have been sub-zero in those open expanses of the top tier.

Things didn’t improve much for Celtic after the interval.

Griffiths had a free-kick palmed wide by MacDonald in the early exchanges, but the more notable moments after that revolved around what did appear to be rather questionable claims for penalty-kicks from Brown and Gary Mackay-Steven, on for Armstrong. Bobby Madden, the referee, could not be faulted for ignoring the claims on both occasions.

Gordon did produce two saves in the closing 10 minutes from Kiltie and Obadeyi. They are worthy of mention, but the goalkeeper would have deserved a flogging at Parkhead Cross had either effort made its way into the net. Kiltie, however, really should have tested him when squandering that late opening.

“Celtic didn’t create an awful lot and I felt we were more likely to nick it at the end,” said Gary Locke, the Kilmarnock manager. It is hard to disagree.