By Amanda Little at Almondvale

Last updated 16:27, Tuesday, 25 March 2008

Gretna 0 Celtic 3: Whatever the future may hold for Gretna, their players can rest assured that they have earned the right to walk with their heads held high.

Determination: Celtic's Lee Naylor is tackled by Gretna's Brendan McGill

As they trudged out of Almondvale after another shattering defeat, they could at least draw some consolation that their attitude and commitment could not have been called into question even if their club’s very existence is still in grave doubt.

Gretna face another week of turmoil and uncertainty as they wait to see if the administrators controlling their affairs can find a new owner to stop the club from going to the wall.

The Gretna fans who answered the rallying cry to turn out in force at Livingston’s Almondvale Stadium yesterday to support their club in their time of need unfurled their “Save Our Club” flags for the TV cameras.

One banner even appealed to entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter – the second richest man in Scotland with personal wealth of over £1billion after selling his chain of sports shops to JJB – to step forward and save the club from extinction.

On the pitch, Gretna’s players showed they aren’t waving the white flag themselves despite finding themselves 23 points behind St Mirren on a paltry six points after being docked 10 points for going into administration.

The patched-up side sent out to face Celtic was short on experience and ability but not on courage and effort as they put up a brave resistance against Gordon Strachan’s champions.

That spirit was typified by young keeper Greg Fleming – back in the side after pulling out of last week’s 3-0 defeat at Aberdeen because he felt he wasn’t in the right frame of mind after taking Gretna’s off-field problems to heart.

And the highly-rated Scotland U21 keeper – a target for Motherwell manager Mark McGhee and his old gaffer Davie Irons at Morton – did both his confidence and his chance of securing a move away from Raydale Park the power of good with a mature and assured display.

With Celtic making all the early running and pressing for the early goal, Fleming did well to tip midfielder Aiden McGeady’s well-struck 20-yard volley over the bar after 21 minutes.

Celtic huffed and puffed but couldn’t blow down Gretna’s defence with the worst record in the SPL having conceded 69 goals going into yesterday’s game.

While the frustration of the Celtic players increased, their fans turned restless and Gretna’s bravehearts visibly grew in confidence.

The Bhoys had to wait another 15 minutes for their next effort on goal but Fleming reacted smartly to palm away Barry Robson’s powerful 25-yard shot.

Just as it looked as if Gretna might make it to the interval without conceding a goal, their resistance was broken four minutes before half-time.

Keeper Artur Boruc’s long punt upfield covered about four postcodes and then Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink flicked the ball into the path of Scott McDonald who beat Fleming with a low volley from six yards.

Within just three minutes of the restart Celtic were given a might scare when Gretna almost equalised.

A good run and cross from Ryan Baldacchino found fellow winger Brendan McGill in space on the edge of the box but he fired agonisingly wide.

Gretna were then left cursing their luck again on the hour when Skelton floated the ball forward for McGill, whose teasing cross was missed by the Celtic defence but Nicky Deverdics completely missed the ball.

It summed up Gretna’s lack of punch in front of goal and shortage of firepower in their ranks, which saw two midfielders playing in attack.

It was a costly miss as the rest of the second half belonged to The Bhoys and Fleming was again forced to produce another top-drawer save to deny McDonald. But the young keeper was powerless to prevent Celtic edging further ahead on 70 minutes.

McGeady sent over the perfect delivery for Jan Venegoor of Hesselink who drove the ball home.

There was a touch of deja vue to Celtic’s third goal two minutes from time when McGeady’s excellent cross from virtually the same spot was cheekily flicked home from the outside of sub Georgios Samaras’ boot.

MATCH FACTS

Gretna: Fleming, Naughton, Skelton, Hall, Meynell, McGill (Griffiths, 82), Baldacchino, Osman, Murray, Deverdics (Barr, 66) and Wilkinson (Makinwa, 72), subs: Krysiak, Hogg, Schultz-Eklund and Taylor.

Celtic: Boruc, Hinkel, Naylor, Caldwell, McManus, Brown (Hartley, 72), Robson (Sno, 80), Nakamura, McGeady, Vennegoor of Hesselink and McDonald (Samaras, 63), subs: Brown, Riordan, O’Dea and Killen.

Referee: Craig Thomson

Crowd: 3,561

STAR MAN: Greg Fleming – Young keeper deserves much credit after agreeing to play after admitting his morale had been badly affected by the turmoil at Gretna. Enhanced his reputation with a number of top-drawer saves to deny Celtic. Excellent early save to deny Aiden McGeady was pick of the bunch.