Source: Team_Talk
Mowbray: Hoops can win in Russia
After four pre-season games without defeat and without losing a goal, Mowbray was handed a harsh dose of reality in his first competitive game as Hoops boss when Aleksandr Kokorin's seventh-minute strike gave the Russian club a clear advantage in this third qualifying round tie ahead of next Wednesday's return game at the Khimki Arena.
The home side missed several chances to equalise including a first-half sitter by new striker Marc-Antoine Fortune but while the feeling is that Celtic may have to rely on the safety net of a Europa League fourth qualifier, the former West Brom manager insists his side can go to Russia and upset the odds.
He said: "I'm disappointed about the result obviously but I'm still optimistic.
"There was enough evidence there to give us encouragement going into the second leg.
"They were well-structured, organised and always a threat on the break yet I believe that we have the quality to go there and cause them problems and score a goal.
"This was a game we could easily have won if we had taken our chances.
"It will be interesting to see how they set up, they don't have to force the game so we have to wait and see if we can take some of the chances as opposed to the chances that we missed here.
"I would expect us to have enough of the ball to create chances over there.
"I would hope that the players would take those chances."
Mowbray refused to blame Fortune's first-half miss from Shaun Maloney's cross for the disappointing result.
The Celtic boss said: "Shaun Maloney missed a good opportunity as did Georgios Samaras so we can't blame one player.
"The team missed opportunities."
Maloney was also defiant in defeat, saying: "The feeling in the dressing room is that the tie is not dead, that's for sure.
"We created enough chances and that's the positive we have to take out of it.
"I should have scored, we should have scored with Marc in the first half and with Georgios' header.
"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."
Dinamo coach Andrey Kobelev was taking nothing for granted, playing down the significance of their victory and away goal. He said: "Celtic are a good team, they play regularly in the Champions League and they proved that so we expect a tough game in the second leg.
"Even if it was 1-0 or 2-0 then the second game would still be difficult.
"History has shown that teams have had 3-0 wins from the first leg but the second game was difficult for them.
"But we have a Russian Premier League game before then which is important and then we will think about the second game against Celtic."
