Celtic will finish the job against HJK in Helsinki, says Gary Hooper

Gary Hooper was Celtic's top scorer last season and is already off the mark this term.SNS Group

Gary Hooper scored a goal to settle Celtic’s nerves against HJK Helsinki at Parkhead and says he can do the same in Finland to keep his team’s Champions league hopes alive.

Hooper found the net to quickly equalise after HJK’s surprise opening goal before Charlie Mulgrew scored a winner to give Celtic a narrow lead in the tie.

With HJK having bagged a crucial away goal, Celtic manager Neil Lennon said the tie was “in the balance” but Hooper says he can score in Helsinki to put Celtic firmly in the driving seat.

"We have just got to play like we did,” he said. “We will not sit in and defend, we will go there and play football.

"We have enough attacking players to score goals. We are good on the counter-attack.

"I look to score in every game and if the chances come like they did in the first leg then I think we have a good chance."

Hooper reflected on Wednesday’s match and said that he was pleased overall with Celtic’s display but conceded that match sharpness had still to fully return. However, he insisted that after this weekend’s SPL opener, the side would be more clinical next week.

"I thought we played well,” he said. “We didn't take our chances in the first half and conceded a sloppy goal but we came back and scored two good goals.

"We had to step it up a level and we did. I thought we played really well."

"We passed the ball well, the fitness levels were up there. The sharpness is not there yet but we are getting there.

"We have got an SPL game with Aberdeen and take the sharpness out of that into Wednesday.”

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