Hoops hold out for satisfactory draw

Gordon Strachan's side adapted well to Spartak's artificial turf and threatened an unlikely victory when Paul Hartley headed them ahead after 21 minutes.

But Spartak ensured the return leg in a fortnight's time will be a Parkhead thriller when Roman Pavlyuchenko equalised for the hosts three minutes before half-time.

Summer signing Scott Brown had a terrific chance to hit a late winner and repay a chunk of his £4.4million fee, but the Scotland midfielder failed to convert from close range, while Spartak hit the bar in the last minute of the third qualifying round tie.

The home side looked inspired from the first whistle, forcing a startled looking Celtic side back on to the back foot. In the third minute, Spartak defender Florin Soava crashed a shot against defender John Kennedy inside the Celtic penalty area which had the home side demanding a penalty to no avail.

Pavlyuchenko soon had the ball in the net from six yards after Brazilian star Welliton left Kennedy for dead on the left. Pavlyuchenko produced a neat finish, hooking the ball in after rushing ahead of the pass, but the strike was disallowed for offside.

However, the tie was turned on its head in the 21st minute when the Scottish champions took the lead with their first effort on goal. Scott McDonald looked suspiciously offside when he collected a Shunsuke Nakamura pass down the right - but the little Australian striker crossed a delightful ball to Hartley, who bulleted a header from 10 yards past Stipe Pletikosa and into the corner of the net.

But three minutes before the break the home side were level. Roman Shishkin's cross from the right was met by Pavlyuchenko and although his close-range header was parried by Mark Brown, the ball escaped over the line.

Spartak should have taken the lead in the 65th minute when Welliton delivered an inch-perfect cross from the right to strike partner Pavlyuchenko. However, from only eight yards, the tall Spartak player headed downwards and the ball bounced up from the artificial turf and went over the bar.

Spartak were controlling the flow of the game and Celtic were becoming more desperate, although the visitors almost got a winner when Brown timed his run just right to collect substitute McGeady's clever pass, which dissected the Spartak defence and found the midfielder all alone, 12 yards from goal, but he took too long to shoot and Pletikosa recovered to gather the ball in.