A league table never lies, but some should have the decency to blush about the story they tell.
Celtic are top of Group D in the Europa League after a draw and two home wins. If they rode their luck in the defeat of Dinamo Zagreb, they were even more relieved to rush up the tunnel with three points this time after a jittery, poor performance.
They were the better of two ordinary teams, although only just. Stefan Scepovic has made a thorough job of keeping his skill set entirely hidden since joining Celtic and obituaries were being written for him here after a series of fluffed finishes. The man has a sense of theatre about him, it seems, given that he eventually buried a header for a 72nd-minute opening goal.
When Stefan Johansen soon doubled the lead the scoreline looked absurdly generous to Celtic. They held on even after the modest Romanians, Astra, pulled one back.
Celtic are with Red Bull Salzburg on seven points, with Dinamo Zagreb on three and Astra rooted on none. It is a handsome position to be in after a night on which it seemed increasingly likely that there would be the ugliness of dropped points. Celtic left spaces at the back which Astra lacked the quality to exploit, although Craig Gordon was again excellent. He has been the cornerstone of their Europa League. Mikael Lustig was his only rival for any man of the match accolades. A draw would have been a fairer result.
The biggest problems were Celtic's use of the ball, the incompetence of their finishing and the hesitancy of their defending. Three pretty big issues, when you put it like that. Every so often Astra players found spaces in front of and between the Celtic back four and it took some desperate sprints and tackles to close them down.
Celtic had swagger and menace without Kris Commons at Ross County on Saturday. Not here. The mood was darkening towards Scepovic, the primary culprit, but there were flaws elsewhere too. Charlie Mulgrew had a horrible night and was substituted. He was supposed to anchor the midfield, with Scott Brown to his right and Johansen left. None of them imposed themselves on the game and the trio ahead of them were no better. Callum McGregor, right, and Anthony Stokes, left were peripheral and Scepovic symbolised the struggle and inadequacy of most of the night.
After 20 minute of tepid Celtic possession Parkhead, noisy enough despite the top tier being closed again, was suddenly startled by an entirely unexpected rat-tat-tat of Astra chances. Seidu Yahaya squirted a shot which Craig Gordon had to beat away. No sooner had the stands digested that than Constantin Budescu smacked another one at him which Gordon saved again. By the time Takayuki Seto drilled a low shot just the post it was obvious that Celtic were facing a team which might have it in them to capitalise on their dreadful, sloppy play.
What were Celtic giving back? Not much. Lustig's crosses from the right, overlapping McGregor, were a constant outlet and the quality of his deliveries promised to yield something. They never did until the closing stages because there was no-one with any presence to attack them in the penalty box. For most of the game Scepovic seemed to be replacing anonymity with notoriety. There were two awful misses from second half headers. Celtic paid £2.3m for the Serb and so far he has done precious little to suggest he isn't heading for that scrapheap of failed strikers they have assembled over the past few years. Even with a goal, his conversion rate last night was inadequate. When he got his head to one of those Lustig crosses in the first half his finish was awful. Worse, far worse, were the two pitiful efforts which followed.
When Emilio Izaguirre's cross was missed by Johansen the ball flew on to Scepovic, whose clumsy connection put the ball wide. Everything looked better when he rose to meet a subsequent Lustig cross, but that came flying off his thrupenny bit head too. Stokes didn't offer enough menace either and Celtic showed more when Wakaso Mubarak and Aleksandar Tonev came on.
Astra were gritty, organised and quick. No more than that. They almost scored when Mulgrew played a suicide pass across the box and was fortunate that Gabriel Enache fired wide of the post. Celtic had no sort of rhythm, couldn't assert any sort of authority over the Romanians, and lacked the the imagination or quality to find a way through the swarm of black shirts which descended on whoever had the ball. A wicked ball fired in from the left by Budescu forced Gordon into another save but had the stretching boot of Enache made contact in the six-yard box Astra would surely have been up.
Instead the goals came in a rush, between the 72nd and 80th minutes. At last Scepovic buried a header, from Stokes's free-kick to the back post. It was a fine striker's finish and suddenly adulation was washing over him. When goalkeeper Silviu Lung spilled a cross by substitute Tonev the ball broke and Johansen came thundering in to lash in a great midfielder's goal.
Out of nowhere Celtic had a two-goal lead and comfort. That flattered them and they demonstrated that by soon surrendered it when Izaguirre's attempt to block sent the ball rebounding off Enache and it trickled into Gordon's net.
It wasn't convincing but it got there in the end. The same applied to Celtic.
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