Mowbray encouraged despite defeat
Celtic manager Tony Mowbray was left to rue a number of missed chances as Dinamo Moscow earned a 1-0 Champions League qualifying victory in Glasgow.
"It was a frustrating night for us," Mowbray told BBC Scotland after his first match in charge at Celtic Park.
"We had more than enough of the ball and more than enough half chances that we'd have hoped to score a goal or two.
"If you look at the balance of play it has to give you optimism to believe that we can go to Moscow and score."
The visitors, who are 15 games into the Russian league campaign, looked sharp in the opening exchanges and Celtic fell behind to a Alexander Kokorin goal after seven minutes.
Following a few further scares, Celtic rallied and striker Marc-Antoine Fortune was guilty of two bad misses from close range, while Scott McDonald saw a header cleared off the goal-line early in the second half.
"Losing the early goal was the worst-case scenario," added Mowbray. "It gave them something to hang on to and encouragement.
"I think you have to give them some credit for the tactics they set out. The frustrated us and killed the spaces our wide players usually play in."
In the final third of the match Celtic resorted to a lot of long, hopeful balls, most of which were dealt with comfortably by the visiting defence, although substitute Georgios Samaras was presented with a free header late on - only to nod straight at keeper Vladimir Gabulov.
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"We banged away at the door for 70 minutes, trying to play through them and round them and in the end you have to look at something different," explained the former West Brom boss.
"It's not a crime to play balls into the box to try and get knockdowns, it's just not something I would choose to do for 90 minutes."
Looking forward to next week's return leg in Moscow, Mowbray admitted that his side face a difficult task but maintains belief in his side's ability.
"It's a big ask," he said. "We have to go there and win the match first and foremost.
"We might need to score two and they are always a threat on the break. I would imagine they would play a similar game, making it hard for us to play through them and rely on the counter-attack.
"But there's no need for us to go chasing the game too early and if we can score a goal over there it makes it very interesting."
Celtic midfielder Shaun Maloney looked lively for the home side and is not giving up hope of progress in the tournament.
"The feeling in the dressing room is that the tie is not dead, that's for sure," said the Scotland international.
"We created enough chances and that's the positive we have to take out of it. It's unfortunate that we didn't take our chances and it keeps coming back to that.
"It's going to take a massive effort but I don't think it's beyond us.
"The manager was pretty pleased with the chances we made, he wasn't despondent in the dressing room afterwards. We will wait and see how it develops over there."
Celtic's midfield options in Moscow may be boosted by the return of Scott Brown and Barry Robson, with both men expected to feature in Saturday's friendly against Sunderland.
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