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Difficult conditions turned this match into a rather agricultural affair, but Celtic triumphed through sheer will-power and hard work.
The defence worked very hard and kept the Lourdes pressure at bay until a brilliant interchange between Dino Dervisic, Danny O' Mahony & Klevis Malaj put Celtic ahead. The first half continued to be influenced by the windy conditions, and it was the introduction of Great Imole that induced a mistake by the Lourdes defence that was capitalized upon by Kacem Touhiri. 2-0 was a potentially good half time lead, but Lourdes's quality eventually breached the Celtic defence when their marksman's shot looped over stand in keeper Brendan Stangu.
Against the wind, Celtic reorganised to beef up the back line of Hammad, Chuck Obiano, Liam & Alasdair Thom by reinstalling Celtic's exceptional keeper Sabin Ghet. With a clean sheet safe, it was left to Craig Hughes & Scott to fill in at left back. The match was epitomised by a superb individual goal by the enigmatic Great Imole, whose 30 yard strike into the top corner left the crowd with a happy memory to reward them for braving the cold.
