Ajax 1 Celtic 0: Lennon's men could be Schone the door

A point in Amsterdam would have radically altered the big picture. Ajax would then have had to either beat Barcelona in the Netherlands in a fortnight or win in Milan on the final day to have any hope of overhauling Celtic. Even two draws would not be enough for the Dutch champions because they would then be level with the Scots - assuming Lennon's side did not pick up anything in their final two games - and would lose out on the head-to-head. Now, if they do finish level, Ajax are the team who will progress because of the away goal they scored at Parkhead.

The man who scored what, at the time, appeared to be no more than a late consolation - Lasse Schone - did the damage again last night. His cool finish six minutes into the second half, after short, sharp passing cut through Celtic's defence, denied Neil Lennon's side anything from a game they had approached with optimism and a promise to go for all three points.

What will most disappoint Lennon is that his team failed to get into top gear against a side who had looked to have stalled. Ajax have a pitiful home record in Europe, winning only three of their last 10 before last night. It was enough to make Celtic's dismally poor away record, one victory in 25 before travelling to Amsterdam, look slightly less unedifying.

Ajax were expected to begin the game forcefully in an attempt to appease a disenchanted support and that is what they tried to do. However, by the interval, Fraser Forster's only contributions of note were a diving save to push a Stefan Denswil free kick from 25 yards away for a corner then an equally impressive action replay to prevent a Siem de Jong header flashing in at the other post.

Celtic's advances towards Jasper Cillessen's goal had been few and far between; disappointing given the attack-minded players in their ranks. Forrest, in particular, struggled to get any foothold in the game as the play was focused on the opposite side of the field, where Anthony Stokes and Georgios Samaras were trying to provide an outball. A booking for the Greek - the player who has committed most fouls in the Champions League this season - for a foul on Thulani Serero, was a measure of how fraught Celtic's early play had been. Emilio Izaguirre, who endured a torrid night, followed his captain into the book as the play was frequently interrupted by the award of free kicks, most in favour of Ajax, whose domination was a big concern to the 2500 fans who had travelled. Some of them had been under siege in a local hostelry the night before. Now their heroes knew how they felt.

The sight of Forster falling into his weakness of misplacing clearances did nothing to ease their anxiety. In front of him, too many misplaced places and misread intentions prevented Celtic developing any kind of fluency or potency. Quite how their goal remained intact for so long said a lot about Forster's ability, and everything about Ajax's frailties.

It would have been even worse for the Dutch champions if Biram Kayal had not suffered a rush of blood to the head when the home defence opened up in front of him early in the second half or Stokes' low shot had not been so easily saved.

In between these efforts, the ball was in the Celtic net. Schone played a couple of wall passes as he worked his way through the defence before coolly slipping a low shot beyond the advancing Forster. Schone almost embarrassed the goalkeeper soon after with a corner kick which had to be headed off the line by Izaguirre but Forster did make a good stop with a foot from de Jong late in the game before Denswil's header from the resultant corner hit a post.

At least falling behind did appear to inject some much-needed urgency into Celtic's play, though, as the game opened up. The introduction of Derk Boerrigter, Joe Ledley and Teemu Pukki perked up the visitors but, for all their endeavour, a clinical finish eluded them, and a third consecutive away defeat was inflicted.