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Twin strikers Griffiths and Bayo give Celtic the winning edge over Wiener

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Neil Lennon opted for twin strikers in the friendly with Wiener and was rewarded with second half goals from Leigh Griffiths and Vakoun Issouf Bayo to earn a 2-1 victory over Wiener.

The Austrians took the lead early in the second half but Griffiths soon had Celtic on level terms before the Ivorian scored his first Celtic goal with an impressive half volley in the closing minutes.

Lennon used his squad his squad to the max with 10 changes at half time but the biggest feature was the change in formation which added to the attacking options but in the second period left the defence exposed at time.

There was a different shape to the Celtic side with a 4-4-2 preferred seeing James Forrest playing close to Odsonne Edouard in the first half with Mikey Johnston on the left and Maryan Shved on the right.

Nir Bitton and Callum McGregor anchored the midfield but weren’t afraid to race forward with Celtic looking sharp in their passing movements but a little slack around goal.

Just past the half hour mark McGregor broke from deep, exchanged passes with Forrest but saw his shot blocked when a goal seemed likely.

In the 37th minute Forrest hit the post from an Andrew Gutman pass, just before the interval Johnston came close with a snap shot from 20 yards out.

Griffiths had a chance at the start of the second half to open the scoring but seemed to have too much time and strangled his shot into the ground.

In the 54th minute Wiener took the lead when a powerful free kick from 30 yards flew over the wall and beyond Scott Bain who retained his place.

Two minutes later Griffiths got his revenge, and an equaliser when he blocked a clearance from the keeper, turned quickly and shot into the net from 10 yards out.

The game dropped into a bit of a lull during the second half but Celtic finished strongly with Ewan Henderson having a close range effort blocked after Bayo should have scored with a free header from a Griffiths corner.

In the 86th minute he made amends, impressively tucking away a half volley that fell just behind him from a Jonny Hayes cross.

CELTIC (FIRST HALF: Bain; Ralston, Simunovic, Hendry, Gutman; McGregor, Bitton; Shved Forrest, Edouard, Johnston

CELTIC (SECOND HALF):  Bain (Hazard 60); Coffey, Welsh, Ajer, Hayes Henderson, Brown, Morgan, Griffiths, Bayo, Sinclair

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