‘NO COMPLAINTS,’ GORDON

The Hoops started the campaign with a 2-2 draw against Ajax in Amsterdam in September and also had two stalemates against Fenerbahce. However, they lost twice to unfancied Molde, 3-1 away and 2-1 at home.

The keeper also explained his part in the Turkish side’s goal in the 1-1 draw in Istanbul on Thursday.

Gordon said: “We’ve done pretty well against the big names in the group. Looking back at the 2-1 loss against Ajax, we would probably have got a draw out of that if we hadn’t been chasing the game.

“So, we haven’t let ourselves down in the bigger games. We put in a good effort against the Turkish side, dug in and got a draw.

“It’s been a tough campaign, but I don’t think we’ve been that far away.

“We’ve lost some crazy goals and the one against Fenerbahce is included in that.

“I thought their striker was favourite to win the ball or he thought I was going to take him out.

“There was a chance I was going to give away a penalty if I went to ground. The fact that he left the ball was what done for me.

“I expected him to try to take it round me or shoot. That he didn’t touch the ball was the most surprising thing of all.

“We certainly haven’t carried much luck throughout the campaign.

“Overall, though, I don’t think we can have too many complaints that we’re not through to the next round.”

Gordon also praised Kris Commons for his impact on the tie when he came on as a substitute for Scott Allan in the 73rd minute.

The international shotstopper added: “Kris had only trained the last few days and that’s probably why he only made the bench.

“However, his appearance was enough to get us a goal and get us back into the game.”

Celtic went through Europa League Group A without winning any of their six games and also lost to Ajax in Glasgow as well as Molde.

The leaky defence conceded 12 goals while the attack scored eight with Commons claiming four. The other strikes came from Nir Bitton, Mikael Lustig, Leigh Griffiths and Callum McGregor.

* Still time to order Celtic books, DVDs or Annuals from the new look CQNBookstore.com in time for Christmas delivery. Orders for the USA and Canada have to be shipped by December 15 while for mainland Europe the deadline in December 16.

If you enjoyed Caesar & The Assassin you will want to read The Winds of Change, as the story of managing Celtic after Jock Stein continues. In The Winds of Change we feature 7 managers and 1 caretaker in the period 1991-2005.

Scott Brown My Celtic Story is a massive seller and CQNBookstore.com is the ONLY place to get it from other than Celtic stores and the online superstore.

It’s beautifully produced by CQN!

And there’s Brendan Sweeney’s Celtic; The Early Years and Paul Dykes’ Celtic’s Smiler The Neilly Mochan story – both book and DVD now available.

Celtic’s Game Changer Dvd is there as is the 4 in a Roar DVD – the season review of Ronny’s first season.

Plenty more on there too – www.cqnbookstore.com