Bhoys missing midfield pair

Brown and Maloney miss Europa League clash

Last updated: 4th November 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Bhoys missing midfield pair

Brown: Ankle problem

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Celtic will be without midfielders Scott Brown and Shaun Maloney for their crucial Europa League clash away to Hamburg.

Brown (ankle) and Maloney (Achilles) missed The Bhoys' weekend SPL win over Kilmarnock and will again sit out on Thursday.

Celtic were beaten on home soil by the Bundesliga outfit in their last European tie and their hopes of progression currently hang by a thread.

Celtic's assistant manager Mark Venus has confirmed with that with Maloney missing, Paddy McCourt should take the winger's place in the squad.

"With Shaun out, we're a winger down, so I would imagine he'll be in among the 18-man list for the game," explained Venus.

Trusting

"It's good that players are coming through and the gaffer's trusting them to play.

"With Marco-Antoine Fortune back too, we have an extra striker, so that gives us more selection problems."

Venus admits Thursday's game against the Bundesliga outfit is a win-or-bust match for Tony Mowbray's men.

"If we don't win, it's going to be very difficult for us to progress," he said.

"But looking at the game against them in Glasgow, we deserved to score, so I don't think it's an impossible task to go there and win the game."

Hamburg 1/2, Draw 3/1, Celtic 6/1