Mowbray doesn't give up

Mowbray: Keeps the faith

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Celtic manager Tony Mowbray has not given up of reaching the next stage of the Europa League.

The Hoops held on for a 0-0 draw against Hamburg in Germany but are now reliant on other results going their way if they are going to have any chance of progressing from Group C.

Mowbray will be encouraged by the way his team defended against Hamburg, although they were at times reliant on goalkeeper Lukasz Zaluska who made a number of fine saves.

At the other end, Scott McDonald missed two great chances in the first half, leaving the Parkhead men needing to beat Hapoel Tel Aviv at home and Rapid Vienna away - while hoping that Hamburg lose both their remaining games.

Despite Celtic needing a minor miracle to advance from the group, their manager is not giving up hope just yet.

"We will try and get the points which are in front of us, and what will be will be," he said.

"Every other game doesn't seem to be as close - there has been a 5-1 and a 3-0 - but regarding the group, we have two matches left and we have to take maximum points.

"That has got to be our focus at the moment. Obviously we have to look at the league games, but when the European games come along we have to try and take maximum points and see if that is enough.

"It was a frustrating performance again. We should have come in at half-time 2-0 up. We had a couple of clear-cut chances that didn't go in.

Unfortunate

"The Europe campaign has been like that this season. It has been very tight, and things haven't fallen our way.

"It was a tight game against Hamburg at Celtic Park - and it didn't fall our way that night.

"We could easily have been sitting here saying that we won tonight. That's the fine margins in football."

Hamburg remain in second place in the group, three points above nearest rivals Rapid Vienna, and manager Bruno Labbadia was relatively happy with the result.

"The only failure was that there wasn't enough power in our attack," he said.

"We are not cutthroat enough. Celtic were dangerous on the counter-attack. But still, I would like to compliment my team - because we have players out with injuries, and the players have compensated for that."