Dynamo Moscow 1 - 0 Celtic Scorer - Kokorin (7) An old Russian proverb decrees that until you have smoked out the bees, you can't eat the honey. Celtic were stung by a Dynamo Moscow side buzzing with bad intentions at Parkhead last night. If his side cannot remedy the malady in Moscow next week, Tony Mowbray - not to mention the club's accountants - face the early aggravation of a season without the Champions League nectar.

This was the kind of tense and arduous toil Mowbray had cautioned against in the build-up, but the facile nature of Celtic's early spearing by Alexander Kokorin will have aggrieved the perfectionist even in these early stages of his reforms.

After the ruinous final weeks of last season, and the consequent departure of Gordon Strachan, a thrum of anticipation reverberated around a heaving Celtic Park to herald the dawn of a new era. It would quickly make way for gasps of ominous anxiety. The night would end with Celtic launching unpretentious artillery towards the Dynamo defence, but with no discernible impact on the stout and stoic Russians.

The return of Mowbray, accompanied by another old favourite, Peter Grant, tempted a near-capacity crowd out in the summer sunshine. The additional attractions of Marc-Antoine Fortune and Landry N'Guemo brought freshness to a menu that had lost its appeal. This was to be no strutting statement of intent from New Celtic. Instead, the club are facing the real prospect of failing to make the Champions League group stages for the first time since the dreaded Artmedia debacle in Bratislava.

This was far from a trauma of such proportions, but nor was it the uplifting appetiser the support - and the coaching staff, for that matter - craved. Celtic, for all their adventurous outlook, were submerged by naivete and, in some cases, consumed by fear. Dynamo wasted no time in pricking the party atmosphere.

Their opening goal, engineered within seven minutes, was a lesson in classic counter-attack play: the kind which Celtic, in this gallus guise, will be prone to.

Having preached to his defensive colleagues the devastating properties of Alexander Kerkhazov, Andreas Hinkel forgot to heed his own warning. This floating apparition ghosted inside the inattentive German full-back and supplied a near-post delivery that eliminated both Gary Caldwell, the captain, and Artur Boruc, leaving Kokorin with the simple task of trundling the ball through the Polish goalkeeper's legs.

Celtic simply could not muster such rewarding simplicity. Dynamo were as clinical and organised as Celtic were wasteful and disjointed.

Fortune endured a wretched competitive debut. The £3.8m signing from Nancy showed an awareness and ability to create space inside the box but, critically, also demonstrated eye-watering profligacy. Such traits have claimed many a weak-willed character in this daunting theatre.

Fortune squandered two gilt-edged opportunities in quick succession during a frenetic and frazzling first half. He looked skyward in lament after spraying efforts wide of Vladimir Gabulov's goal, but there would be no divine intervention to lighten his burden.

Celtic were not without endeavour, but too often their passages of play rebounded off an iron curtain strategically erected by bulbous Andrey Kobelev.

There was an endearing but worrying innocence to Celtic's play. With Aiden McGeady and Shaun Maloney hogging the expanses in direct support of Fortune and Scott McDonald, there was no shortage of activity around Dynamo's defence. Too often, the probing ended prematurely, leaving the hosts brutally exposed to the hammer-and-sickle counter-attacks pioneered by the legendary Ukrainian, Valeriy Lobanovsky.

McGeady, feted in print and by the manager beforehand, experienced the frustrations of Russian contempt. With both he and Maloney stationed so high up the pitch, the early concession left N'Guemo and Massimo Donati fearing a fatal second wave and, thus, deprived Celtic of any meaningful influence in the centre of the field. It also left Hinkel the thankless task of containing Kerzakhov on his own.

To compound matters, the Kombarov brothers, Dmitry and Kirill, posed a supplementary problem as old-fashioned inside-forwards. It all became rather unsightly for Celtic as Dynamo flexed their muscle.

Luke Wilkshire, the Australian midfielder, was a brilliant buffer for Dynamo. When he wasn't nipping away at Donati and N'Guemo, his comrade, Victor Svezhov, gleefully obliged. It was Wilkshire who cleared Celtic's best chance of the second half, sweeping McDonald's header off the line after a neat chip pass from Maloney.

Celtic's struggle to engage their forwards was manifested in a brave double substitution within the hour. Fortune and McDonald were replaced by Chris Killen and Georgios Samaras. Once upon a time, such a bold change would have evoked howls of protest from the patrons, or at least exasperated groans. As it was, Mowbray's changes were greeted with a chorus of hopeful cheer from an increasingly desperate support. Ultimately the changes, which also included Danny Fox replacing an outfoxed Donati, made only a cosmetic difference.

Killen snatched a header wide from Fox's corner and the English debutant showed a similar lack of composure as Celtic's need grew stronger. Samaras rounded off a barren night with a tame header straight at Gabulov. Mercifully, Artur Boruc spared Celtic from a more gruesome fate when Dynamo drove upfield, Fedor Smolov cutting inside and smacking a left-foot shot off the Pole's outstretched and rather imposing frame.

This was an early education in high-stakes Champions League football for Mowbray. The words of Fyodor Dostoyevsky offer some hope for the return leg: realists do not fear the results of their study.

Learning the lessons of last night is now a matter of urgency.