NEIL LENNON has praised goalkeeper Fraser Forster after his penalty heroics salvaged a draw from a game in Copenhagen that the Celtic manager thought his side should have won.
Forster tipped Jens Stage's spot-kick onto the post with just over 10 minutes remaining, ensuring that Odsonne Edouard's early opener was enough for the Scottish champions to take a favourable result back to Celtic Park next week.
And Lennon puts Forster's remarkable penalty saving record down to the hard work he puts in during training.
“He’s brilliant but that’s down to the work that he and Stevie Woods to behind the scenes," Lennon said.
"I have no real complaints about the penalty it does come off Ryan’s arm in an unnatural position if you want to call it that. Credit to Fraser he’s done brilliantly with a magnificent save.
"I think it would have been really harsh on us if we’d lost the game with the amount of chances we had, especially in the first half. But we have the away goal so the tie is set up nicely for going back to Glasgow.
“It was a great game of football, it ebbed and flowed. I am disappointed if I’m honest that we aren’t ahead in the tie. In the first couple of minutes we had a great chance and then another shortly after that and then we scored and we then had a couple of great counter-attacks we could have picked them off and put the tie to bed.
"It shows that we can score against them, that’s for sure, and open them up. But we have to pay respect to Copenhagen they came back very strongly in the second half.”
Celtic passed up a number of opportunities during the match, with home keeper Karl-Johan Johnsson denying goalscorer Edouard alone a possible hat-trick within the opening quarter of an hour.
But Lennon has backed his men to take their chances when they come next Thursday.
“I’m not going to be critical of the players," he said. "It was the quality of chances we created as well that was very good.
"To come away from home it is really difficult. I am delighted that we have come away with a decent result."
Celtic captain Scott Brown is a doubt for the second leg next week as well as the home match against Kilmarnock on Sunday after hobbling off during the second half.
"We lost Browny with a calf strain and we’ll have to see how that is but in the main we are pleased with the score," he said.
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