MORITZ Bauer was pleased to return to the starting XI for Celtic’s game against Hibernian at Easter Road on Saturday, but the Hoops defender and his team-mates were left frustrated after having to take a share of the spoils in a 1-1 draw.

The home side took the lead fortuitously when a cross into the box took a deflection off Kristoffer Ajer and ended up in the back of the net early in the first-half. And though Ryan Christie cancelled that out with a 23rd-minute header, Neil Lennon’s side couldn’t find a winner despite creating a number of chances and having two clear penalty claims waved away by referee, Kevin Clancy.

Speaking to Celtic TV after the game, Bauer admitted that the champions were disappointed at not maintaining their 100 per cent start to the Premiership season, dropping two points at a ground where they’ve not won in the league since January 2014.

“We wanted to keep our record going,” the Celtic defender said. “We came here to win – we hadn’t won here in the league for a while and we wanted to change that. Obviously, we had some chances to win the game. It’s not a bad point but we would like to have taken all three.

“They looked dangerous at times. I think they’re not a bad team and they have quality as well in the front four. So we always had to be aware of that – the balance between a solid defence and still trying to attack.

“Losing the goal made it a bit more difficult then because it gave the crowd a lift as well and we had to chance the game, but we showed character and came back well and we were unfortunate we didn’t manage to score in the second-half.”

The two contentious moments of the second 45 minutes both came in the Hibernian area and were almost identical. First, Ryan Christie was fouled as he crossed the ball in from the right, and then Bauer was also fouled as he got his cross away.

The fact that neither challenge resulted in a penalty for Celtic surprised the Austrian internationalist.

“I thought before my situation there was one with Ryan Christie where I expected to hear the whistle, and I thought they should have given a penalty for mine as well,” he said.

“The Hibs player didn’t touch the ball. He was only going for the man and was making it very difficult for me to put a cross in. It was small details like that which were not in our favour, similar to their goal in the first-half.

“But, still, we can improve our game as well and be more clinical and score more goals to wipe these discussions out of the way.”

Moritz Bauer: We should have been spot-on for three points at Hibs