The next stage of the pre-season trip seen Celtic play Romanian club Cluj who would be a formidable force against the Bhoys as they travelled to Austria for the match where Cluj were situated for their pre-season campaign. Coming off a 1-0 defeat to the hands of Sevastopol in Germany, Celtic were looking to bounce back and get the winning mentality back before playing their next pre-season match against Gruether Furth who also play in green and white shirts.

The team was very much like the one that played against Sevastopol with a mixture of new Bhoys, youths and regular first team players. Liam Henderson the seventeen year old got his second start in a row and the small travelling support to Austria also got a glimpse of Amido Balde and Virgil Van Dyke who also featured from the start. Cluj themselves a good way through their pre-season preparations had Gregory Tade in their starting line up. Tade familiar to the Celtic support from his stints in the SPL with Inverness Caley and Saint Johnstone. They like Celtic have an international mix in their team with a few home boys themselves. Djokovic a Croatian and Greek striker Kapetanos both featured for the Romanians.

Cluj started strongest of the two teams when Deac made a cunning pass for Pedro but the English centre half intercepted it. Kelvin Wilson was one of Celtic's better players in the game. Deac once again was lively for the team in maroon as he cut inside and had a pop at goal but never troubled Fraser Forster.

In the ninth minute though the first goal of the game manufactured itself for the Romanians as Gregory Tade placed a ball into the feet of Costa who curled the ball into the top right corner of the net leaving both Van Dijk and Forster helpless.

Celtic had hoped to hit back right away as a short corner from Kris Commons was met by the Cluj defence but the clearance fell to young Waters who found Balde in a great position to score but his effort at goal from a few yards out went over the bar. Luckily for him the linesman had flagged him for offside.

It was Cluj who would have their best chance since the goal with a powerful effort at goal from a costless kick was palmed onto the post from Fraser Forster who was trying to make up for his efforts in the last game which seen a poor costless kick end up in the net.

It took a while into the second half for anything to get going as at least ten minutes went by with nobody creating any chances. Charlie Mulgrew had a costless kick from thirty yards hit well over the bar however due to a foul a retake was taken and it was Commons this time with a missed effort. The best tackle of the game came from Beram Kayal as his sloppy pass resulted in a great goal scoring opportunity for Cluj but he chased back and made a great sliding tackle similar to Adam Mathews away at Helsingborgs last season.

A great counter-attack from Cluj resulted in their second goal of the game as a driven ball across goal to Greek striker Kapetanos finds its way past Fraser Forster and into the net increasing the advantage for the Romanians. A positive piece of play from Celtic resulted in a corner which Van Dijk headers just over the bar.

Finally inside the eighty first minute Celtic managed a goal of their own as substitute Georgios Samaras knees the ball past the substitute goalkeeper both of whom were unaware of what was going on at the moment. The keeper scrambled to save it but unfortunately for him managed to find its way into the net.

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About the author
Connor Gordon
Hi, I am from Glasgow, Scotland and at university studying Multimedia Journalism. I have a fondness for French club, Stade Rennais. I try to convey the way I see the game of football into my articles. I hope you enjoy! Contact me on Twitter: @ConnorGordonnn Email: [email protected]