Source: Daily_Mail
Blunder Bhoy: Celtic manager Tony Mowbray insists Gary Caldwell will recover from own goal misery
Tony Mowbray told shattered Celtic fall guy Gary Caldwell to hold his head high, despite his key role in handing victory to Arsenal.
The unlucky Hoops skipper scored a heartbreaking own goal to seal a 2-0 win for the Premier League aristocrats as they became the first English side to win at Parkhead for 26 years.
William Gallas had already scored with the luckiest of deflections and now the Emirates second leg next Wednesday looks as challenging for Celtic as attempting to scale Everest in sandshoes.
Caldwell's awful week - he was red-carded for Scotland in Oslo last week - hit rock bottom after 71 minutes as he turned in Gael Clichy's cross to give Arsene Wenger's side a precious play-off advantage.
'Gary has character and is a strong guy, mentally,' said Mowbray.
'However he feels now, he will recover.
'If you lose a goal to a 15-pass move and a smashing finish, then so be it. But it never happened. We did not look like we would cut them open, in fairness.'
Mowbray dropped last season's top scorer Scott McDonald and big summer buy Marco Fortune with Georgios Samaras joined up front by Aiden McGeady.
'I wouldn't change anything in terms of the team,' added the Hoops boss. 'The plan was to try to make it a tight game and then have people coming off the bench.
'What adjective would I use for the Emirates? Difficult.
'We have to try to get the first goal. That might change it a wee bit - we will wait and see. We will try to ask some more questions of Arsenal but let's not disguise it, we face a massive task in London.
'If we score the first goal, we will see how they react. They probably think the job is done now.'
Mowbray hailed McGeady's classy show - as did Wenger - but the Celtic boss was unhappy with his side's use of the ball.
'I wanted us to be better in possession,' he said. 'McGeady showed his quality and matched theirs. We had to have people who could do that. But the passes into the strikers were not good enough.'
Wenger accepted his side got lucky with their goals and saluted the Parkhead atmosphere as better than anything on offer in England.
He also praised McGeady's display on the night Spurs boss Harry Redknapp came north to watch Scott Brown.
'I think we merited our good luck,' Wenger said. 'The goals were fortunate but we had other chances in the second half when we could have scored. It was a big fight and we needed to be a strong Arsenal.
'We have a good advantage but it is over 180 minutes. We want to win in London, as well, but we must treat the second leg seriously.
'I think the atmosphere was outstanding - even better than the Premier League.
'Celtic impressed me. Even at 2-0, they never gave up. Their attitude was good.'
Asked about individuals, the Arsenal manager added: 'McGeady did well. He's a very good player and their defence played well, too.'
Cameroon international Landry N'Guemo is set to miss next Wednesday's return leg through suspension after picking up a booking.
