Stuttgart Kickers 1 Celtic 0: Kick-start to Celtic's tour stays elusive

Senior Sports Writer

Monday 16 July 2012

CELTIC's search for form, fitness and the net remains ongoing after two games of their pre-season tour.

Celtic's Daryl Murphy tussles for the ball with Stuttgart's American defender Royal-Dominique Fennell. Picture: Craig Williamson/SNS

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RONNIE CULLY

The goalless game against Bundesliga side Augsburg on Tuesday was last night followed by a 1-0 loss to Stuttgart Kickers, who play in the third tier of German football.

Slack defensive play allowed Omar Jatta to head past Lukasz Zaluska four minutes before half-time. With Marcos Alvarez, Kevin Dicklhuber and Sandrino Braun all spurning good opportunities against a tiring Celtic side in the closing minutes, the defeat could have been much heavier.

While results are not the important aspect at this stage of pre-season, Neil Lennon is very aware that his team face their opening Champions League qualifier in just over two weeks, and the lack of a goal threat will be a concern.Celtic face Bundesliga Two side FC Aalen tomorrow before heading to Amsterdam to play Ajax, and the Celtic manager knows that a cutting edge must be found quickly.With the players who had been on international duty and returned late from their summer break still getting up to speed and not being considered ready, Lennon was still able to make seven changes from the line-up which started against Augsburg.Captain Scott Brown was among those to see his first action of the tour, while Thomas Rogne and Kris Commons had recovered from the slight strains which sidelined them against Augsburg.Kickers play two divisions below the Bundesliga, but the presence of the Scottish champions drew live TV coverage and a crowd of around 6800 to their attractive Gazi-Stadion, many of them Celtic supporters based in Germany.The intermittent drizzle and cool conditions made it feel more like Barrowfield than Bavaria, and suited the Celtic players who had been made to work very hard in the heat of Donauworth and at their training base nearby before the three-hour journey north-west for this match.The Celtic players wore black armbands and a minute's silence was observed as a mark of respect to Joe McBride, who died on Wednesday. It would have been fitting had Celtic then proceeded to deliver the type of attacking display for which the former striker was renowned.However, with Daryl Murphy and Gary Hooper up front, there was power but very little pace. This was reflected in the fact that, in the first half, Celtic's best chances came from a Rogne header after he rose to meet a Commons corner, saved at full length by agile goalkeeper Daniel Wagner, and a Commons shot which dropped over the crossbar after he slipped on the lush turf.Murphy and Hooper were willing targets for a midfield with Commons at the head of a diamond and Paddy McCourt sitting deep to pick up the ball from his defenders. Lennon expected that, having removed some of the rust and rough edges in their opening game, this would be a much more coherent and assured performance. There were signs of improved fitness, but not enough to allow Celtic to take control of the match.Prior to the goal, Celtic had restricted Kickers to a few long-range free kicks, none of which troubled Zaluska, who made his first save after 29 minutes and coped easily with Mahir Savranlioglu's low drive. Patrick Auracher's header from a free kick should have been a warning to Celtic that they were not marking tightly enough, but they were caught sleeping four minutes from the break when Fabio Leutenecker got to the goal-line and found the head of Jatta with his driven cross.Lennon's decision to introduce James Forrest, Kelvin Wilson and Beram Kayal for Charlie Mulgrew, Andre Blackman and Hooper indicated the manager was determined to avoid a bloody nose, even in a friendly. The sight of Forrest on the ground, holding his left ankle, after an accidental collision off the ball with Savranlioglu, was of more concern to Lennon. But he was relieved to see the 21-year-old, who missed the final three months of last season with an injury to his other ankle, return to the action after treatment. Brown was also in the wars, leaving Jerome Gondorf in no doubt what he thought of his ill-judged tackle.Commons' epitomised the night when his free kick found the trees surrounding the stadium, the signal for Lennon to replace him with Rabiu Ibrahim. By the end, the traffic was all one way, and Celtic's quest for that elusive first goal now moves on to Aalen.

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Stuttgart Kickers 1 Celtic 0: Kick-start to Celtic's tour stays elusive

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