A brace from Kayleigh Van Dooren made sure they was no honeymoon start to Celtic’s Champions League adventure under Elena Sadiku.
They competed well against one of Europe’s seasoned performers but were left with nothing to show for their efforts. Celtic looked to get on the front foot immediately with Morgan Cross winning a corner in the opening minute. It did not give Sadiku’s side the breakthrough they were looking for but it was a positive start for the Hoops. They did not look overawed by the occasion as they set about trying to take the game to Twente.
Lawton was next up to try and get Celtic on the frontfoot. She played a nice ball through to Cross but Lieske Carleer was there to turn it behind as Celtic forced another corner. For all that there were lots of positives in the opening stages, the SWPL champions toiled to force Olivia Clark in the Twente goal into too many saves. At the other end, there was a brief moment of panic when a long ball over the top caused panic for Hoops stopper Kelsey Daugherty.
Rushing off her line, she clashed into Kayleigh Van Dooren in what became a clumsy clearance. She followed it up with a comfortable save from the striker a minute later as she regained her composure.
At the other end, Shannon McGregor took aim with an effort that seemed to nick off a Celtic player before going wide of the mark. Celtic got closer still with an effort from Murphy Agnew into the side-netting, a moment that had the Hoops fans in the main stand thinking it had crept into the net.
Daugherty saved from Nikee van Dijk, the effort coming off her legs as she blocked the effort. With Celtic’s early impetus starting to wane, it was Twente who showed their experience at this level as they turned the screw and took a firm grip of the game.
They started to tease Celtic as they took a steady grip of the game. With Celtic looking to make it to the break, they were undone. It was a simple long ball that caught out Caitlin Hayes and Clark and with Daugherty off her line Van Dooren lobbed the Celtic goalkeeper to net her fifth goal in five European appearances this season.
Hayes almost forced an immediate reply when her header was clawed away by Clark on the cusp of the whistle. With Twente showing their experience at this level, there was always a danger for Celtic that they would concede a killer second. A set-pieces their most likely source way back into the game with Hayes heading over from a McGregor corner at the start of the second period.
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