Celtic striker Scott McDonald had no fears of being ring rusty when he was pitched in to the frontline to help the Hoops in their Champions League third qualifying round against Spartak Moscow in the Luzhniki stadium on Wednesday.

The little Australian missed the first two Clydesdale Bank Scottish Premier League games of the season against Kilmarnock and Falkirk due to a suspension he picked up for former club Motherwell last season.

But when Kenny Miller pulled out of the match against Spartak through a hamstring injury, McDonald was drafted in for his first competitive game for the Scottish champions.

The tenacious striker repaid manager Gordon Strachan's faith in him after just 21 minutes when he crossed for midfielder Paul Hartley to give the Parkhead side the lead.

Three minutes from the interval Spartak striker Roman Pavlyuchenko, who had been ruled offside earlier on when he had beaten Celtic keeper Mark Brown, headed the equaliser from a Roman Shishkin cross.

But the Parkhead men are still favourites to go through to the group stages in the return game in Glasgow in a fortnight's time.

McDonald was primed for action against the Russian side and said: "Kenny was unfortunate. He pulled out with a slight hamstring strain so the opportunity arose for me.

"I had to be ready to play. I have been waiting for a while so it was great to get out there.

"I haven't had much experience at this level and I just said to myself go out there and do what you do best'.

"It was my first competitive game for Celtic and it was hard work near the end. I hope there are more games like this.

"It's a great result, the first one way from home in Europe for a long time, "It puts us in a great position but there is still a massive job to be done."