Celtic beat Victory in Melbourne

Celtic posted a 1-0 win over Melbourne Victory in a pre-season friendly on Wednesday, despite the best efforts of home goalkeeper Tando Velaphi.

Velaphi, who arrived in Melbourne at the end of the last A-League season, showed few of the qualities which attracted Victory to him in the AFC Champions League, but against quality opposition on Wednesday, he produced a fantastic performance pulling off a string of saves.

It took until the 78th minute for Melbourne’s defence to be breached with substitute and regular Celtic skipper Scott Brown firing a spectacular winner for the tourists.

Celtic’s starting line-up featured players from eight different countries, but it was a reasonably strong side considering it was the third game of their Australian tour.

They played by far the more enterprising football but were repeatedly denied by the former Perth Glory keeper.

Melbourne also had their chances to score, with former Hull city striker Danny Allsopp missing excellent chances in either half.

It took Brown to finally break the deadlock, unleashing from a Kris Commons corner and hitting the back of the net after a deflection.