Postecoglou rues Celtic's lack of cutting edge in loss to Bodo/Glimt

Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou rued his side’s lack of cutting edge in their 3-1 loss to Bodo/Glimt but stressed it was only the midway point in the European tie.

The Norwegian champions made an explosive start to the Europa Conference League play-off tie with a goal from Runar Espejord after seven minutes, followed by an Amahl Pellegrino goal early in the second half.

Daizen Maeda pulled a goal back for Celtic but Bodo/Glimt restored their two-goal advantage almost instantly when Hugo Vetlesen’s shot was deflected in.

Postecoglou felt that the visitors had shown ruthless efficiency while his side could have been sharper when presented with opportunities.

“It’s not the outcome we wanted,” he said. “It’s a game where they were very clinical in the front third and we weren’t so I think that was the difference in the game.

“They had two chances second half, one was a deflection. We lacked composure in the front third.

“In a game where the goals changed the perspective for everyone out there, they were able to get theirs and we didn’t.

“They hadn’t played for two months but they had been training and there’s not a lot of change from last year in terms of same coach, same approach. We scouted them through pre-season so we knew what we were going to get.”

Celtic now look to turn the tie around in a week’s time in Norway and the Celtic boss said they would draw confidence from their Europa League matches, where they scored on the road against Betis, Ferencvaros and Bayer Leverkusen.

“It’s only half-time,” he said. “There’s another game to go so we’ll go there, play our football and see what we do.

“We’ve scored goals away from home in tough places so it’s a good challenge for us.”