D Thursday, December 3, 2009 METROSPORT 31 THEGLOSS THE IRISH TIMESWith Today PARTY PROWLERS INNER ANIMALS UNLEASHED Fashion Role Play Choose Your Look DECEMBER 2009 / t4.50 THE IRISH TIMESnow every month with Progress halted: Celtic striker Scott McDonalds is stopped in his tracks by the Hapoel defence at Parkhead Picture: SNS Celtic find their feet but suffer European exit Celtic: Zaluska, Hinkel, Caldwell, Loovens, Daniel Fox, NGuemo, Crosas, McGeady (Naylor 73), Robson, McDonald, Samaras (Fortune 62). Hapoel: Enyeama, Bondarv, Badir, Douglas, Ben Dayan, Menteshashvili (Lala 46), Yadin (Zahavi 78), Vermouth, Natcho, Shechter, Yeboah (Vucicevic 46). Booked: Yadin. Ref: Tony Asumaa (Finland). celtic 2 hapoel tel-aviv 0CeltiCs europa league hopes ended as expected last night despite tony Mowbrays side securing their first victory of the campaign. Hamburgs 2-0 win over Rapid Vienna in the other Group C fix- ture took them top with ten points, one more than Hapoel, and made Celtics trip to Vienna on Decem- ber 17 a redundant final fixture. Greece striker Georgios samaras gaveCeltictheleadmidwaythrough the first half, as he had when the two sides met in israel in september when Hapoel tel Aviv won 2-1. this time though, the home side added to their lead through a Barry Robson free-kick after the break to run out deserved winners. However, after taking care of the israeli side, and on the evidence of the first meeting between the two sides, boss Mowbray and Celtics fans might wonder why last nights opponents are going through to the knockout stages with Hamburg. Midfielder Aiden McGeady ad- mitted recent criticism of his sides patchy form was justified and said they only had themselves to blame for finding themselves dumped out of continental competition. the Republic of ireland winger said: the first half we played the way we started the season. its been a bit up and down and i think it [crit- icism] is justified because weve not been playing the way we can. Weve only got ourselves to blame for the position weve got ourselves in. its down to games we should have won and chances weve missed. But hopefully this will give us the platform to kick on for the season. Pressure to perform: Gibson You can win with kids, says Gibson SocceR euRoPa leaGue DARRON GIBSON believes Sir Alex Ferguson will stick to his word and allow Manchester Uniteds fringe players to play in the Carling Cup semi-finals. The 22-year-old midfielder scored both goals as United booked their place in the last four with a 2-0 victory over Tottenham on Tuesday night. A team also containing the likes of Ritchie De Laet, Gabriel Obertan and Danny Welbeck saw off Spurs at Old Trafford and boss Ferguson has already hinted he may stand by his youngsters in the competition. Ireland midfielder Gibson certainly hopes so and he said: The Carling Cup is a competition for the young players.Hopefully, the manager will maintain that no matter what happens and give us another chance in the semi- final. And Gibson insists Uniteds second string are under more scrutiny than anyone because they are bidding to earn a place in the first team. He added: I would say there was more pressure on us. We have to go out and prove we can play in the Premier League every week. That is exactly what I felt we did against Spurs. Moyes joy as Toffees top Bil in Athens eVeRtON boss David Moyes was delighted to see his team return to winning ways after Diniyar Bilyaletdinovs early goal sealed their place in the last 32 of the europa league. the Russian midfielder raced on to Jos brilliant through-ball to fire past AeK goalkeeper sebastian saja after just six minutes for the only goal of the game in a rain-soaked Olympic stadium in Athens. the result, combined with Group i leaders Benficas 2-1 win over BAte Borisov, means the toffees have qualified for the knockout stage as section runners-up with a game to spare. Moyes, whose side had won just once in 11 previous outings, said: i was pleased, especially with the outcome of the game. the young players who came in did really well tonight and im delighted with them. its very important to have qualified with a game to spare. aeK athens: Sebastian Saja, Georgeas, Geraldo, Majstorovic, Juanfran, Hersi, Kafes, Makos (Manduca 30), Leonardo (Scocco 46), Taxtsidis, Pavlis (Blanco 60). Booked: Geraldo. everton: Howard, Gosling (Baxter 10), Hibbert, Distin (Duffy 18), Baines, Pienaar, Coleman, Fellaini, Bilyaletdinov, Cahill, Jo (Yakubu 73). Booked: Hib bert, Cahill, Howard, Bilyaletdinov, Baxter. Ref: Claudio Circhetta (Switzerland). aek athenS 0 eveRton 1 By neil MaCKay index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html24.html25.html26.html27.html28.html29.html30.html31.html32.html33.html34.html35.html