KAIRAT & STICK

Fans chant 'sack the board' with CL dream left in limbo

- Ronnie Esplin

CELTIC still have plenty of work to do to reach the Champions League after drawing a blank in the first leg of their play-off against Kairat Almaty at Parkhead.

In Brendan Rodgers' 800th match as a manager, there was no traditional early onslaught by the Hoops as the accomplished Kazakh side more than matched their hosts.

However, with Yang Hyun-jun on for Adam Idah and Daizen Maeda moving to centre-forward at the start of the second half, Celtic stepped up the pace and piled on the pressure in the later stages but could not find a way through.

After Saturday's Premiership visit of Livingston, the Hoops will get ready for the return leg in Kazakhstan on Tuesday night which involves a 7,000-mile round trip knowing qualification requires more work than many anticipated.