BOLOGNA 2 CELTIC 2: REO SEES RED AS 10 HEROES HOLD OUT

BOLOGNA 2 CELTIC 2

REO HATATE was red-carded as 10-man Celtic heroically held out for a point in Bologna this evening.

It was an awesome performance of courage of backs-to-the-wall and never-say-die defending from Martin O’Neill’s men as their hopes of advancing to the knock-out phase of the Europa League remained alive.

The Hoops were asked to play more than an hour with a man short against Serie A opposition on their own pitch in front of their partisan support as they proved their mettle with a well-deserved stalemate.

And it could have been even better for Celtic who led 2-0 at the interval against all the odds.

I’LL DRINK TO THAT…Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney watch Celtic fight a rearguard action in Bologna.

Villain Hatate was on the receiving end of the cheers in the fifth minute when Daizen Maeda intercepted a pass from keeper Lukasz Skorupski to play in his Japanese team-mate.

The playmaker almost nonchalantly rolled the ball into the inviting net.

Moments later, the keeper deflected an angled drive from Yang Hyun-jun onto the crossbar as the Hoops maintained a whirlwind start.

However, the progress stalled when Hatate was banished in the 34th minute after picking up two bookings inside three explosive minutes.

The midfielder received a caution for a foul on Lewis Ferguson as he tussled with the Scotland international for possession. Unfortunately, Greek referee Vasileios Fotias ignored the flapping left elbow of the home player and punished the Hoops man.

Within moments, Hatate was involved in a coming-together with Juan Miranda as both chased the ball. The Spaniard went down quickly and, just as hastily, the match official reached for the red card to dismiss the Celt.

A fuming O’Neill could not control his feelings and he, too, earned a yellow card from the overly-fussy referee.

PICK IT OUT…Reo Hatate is all alone as he rolls in the opener after a pass from Daizen Maeda.

It looked as the initiative had swung towards the home side, but, amazingly, the visitors scored a second goal in the 40th minute through Trusty with a well-worked corner-kick routine.

Kieran Tierney swung the ball left-footed into the box, Liam Scales nodded down to the far post and the American international centre-back to knock the ball home.

The first-half was packed with talking points, lots of energy and some heroic defending from the Hoops.

Callum McGregor, Colby Donovan, Scales and Trusty made timely interventions as the Serie A outfit battled to get back into the contest. Tierney was inexhaustible in his left-back role.

And Kasper Schmeichel was on hand to display his experience when the hosts breached the barrier with a couple of excellent saves.

The Great Dane got down superbly to his right to hold a rasping 18-yarder from Miranda in the 23rd minute and showed lightning reflexes to throw himself full-length to his left to push away a header as the game edged towards the interval.

At the start of the second-half, O’Neill replaced Sebastian Tounekti, whose attacking skills had been stifled for most of the first period, with the more robust Benjamin Nygren.

BEST FOOT FORWARD…Auston Trusty prods in the second goal.

As anticipated, the home side started at 100 miles per hour as they attempted to get an early goal.

Schmeichel made an alert save at his left-hand post six minutes after the turnaround, but he was helpless in the 58th minute when Dollinga was given a free header smack in front of goal after a right-wing cross had been flicked on.

The Bologna midfielder powered in a header, the Hoops No.1 got a touch, but couldn’t prevent the effort from spinning into the net.

In the 72nd minute, Schmeichel was left rooted to the ground as a high drive from Jonathan Rowe flew past him for the equaliser.

The English winger was allowed to jink in from the right past Tierney and Nygren before unleashing a mighty left-foot effort from just outside the box.

It sizzled past a startled Schmeichel and the home fans sensed victory.

HAIL THE HEROES…Liam Scales, Yang Hyun-jun, Kieran Tierney and Arne Engels celebrate the second goal with marksman Auston Trusty.

With fatigue setting in, Anthony Ralston and Johnny Kenny were introduced to the action with Donovan and Yang withdrawn in the 77th minute.

Two minutes later, the Republic of Ireland striker was presented with a chance following a strong run from Engels, but his angled drive was straight into the chest of the keeper and the chance was gone.

Celtic continued to repel the raids from a frantic home team as Paulo Bernardo came on for Engels in the 88th minute.

O’Neill’s heroes also saw off five minutes of stoppage-time to claim what could emerge as a priceless point in a week’s time when the champions take on Utrecht at Parkhead in the final league stage encounter.

Before that, there is the little matter of a crunch Premiership meeting with Hearts at Tynecastle on Sunday.

TEAM: Schmeichel; Donovan (sub: Ralston 77), Trusty, Scales, Tierney; Engels (sub: Bernardo 88), McGregor, Hatate; Yang (sub: Kenny 77), Maeda, Tounekti (sub: Nygren 46).