I am sure that I am not the only Celtic fan who uttered words of confusion as Mowbray hooked Marc Antoine Fortune and brought on Scott Brown. "What on earth is he doing" was the cry from many an armchair manager. However Mowbray's foresight was to be truly vindicated as Scott Brown not only hassled, harried and bossed the game, but also contributed to some truly wonderful link up play between the wingers and Georgios Samaras.
It was a masterstroke that pulled the poor Dinamo defence out of sync time and time again and both the Manager and the player should be very proud of the parts they played in the away victory.
Indeed it was a night where every player can hold his head high for his performances, from the European debutante Danny Fox who had an admirable game to the re emergence of Massimo Donati as a player that we can call upon to do a job in certain games.
One player who can certainly be assured that he made an impact was goal scoring hero Scott McDonald. Whilst Skippy is capable of moments of severe frustration as his first touch routinely lets him down he is deadly in the six yard box and he took his goal well, showing his marker the front post before heading to the back post to nod in Andreas Hinkel's superb early cross.
Skippy had this to say.
"Everyone will say it is down to the new manager and we'll say that, too,"
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"He's brought some fresh ideas and it is a new start for everyone.
"It seems we like playing in Russia, eh? We would like to play here all of the time away from home in Europe. It was a fantastic result; especially considering not a lot of people expected us to do that."
Another positive last night was the fact that Celtic managed to overcome a first leg home defeat for the first time in the Clubs history. Whilst the lack of away victories is not as significant as some of the Scottish media may have us believe, it is still good to discard this monkey off our back.
"The away record has never been in the players' minds. We just go and do our own thing,"
Celtic had looked bright and breezy in the first half, boasting the lion's share of possession as Dinamo foolishly looked to defend the lead that they had. That being said however, our reluctance to press the wide players lead to many a scary moment in the first half, especially against a team whose confident passing into space and forwards dropping deep to retain possession looked to find room to manoeuvre.
However, up popped Skippy just before half time to level the tie and Celtic never really looked back against a Russian side that seemed strangely reluctant to come out and win the match.
"Both times were great times to score," said McDonald. "The first goal hurt them because it meant they had to come out a little more. I felt they played the same way in both legs. They almost went to five at the back and it was difficult to break through.
"The first half was frustrating, but we got that one chance here with the first time we really got the ball down and we took it. It put Dynamo on the back foot and, bar a 10-minute period at the start of the second half, we dominated."
So as Celtic face the prospect of a play-off match against the likes of Athletico Madrid, Arsenal, Lyon, Stuttgart or Fiorentina it would be forgivable for the players to rest on their laurels and enjoy the moment, but that notion has not entered the ambitious young Aussie's mind.
The implications are mouth-watering. "We are only a couple of games into our season, so it's a great result," he added. "We'd have been disappointed to lose, but it's not relief that we are through. Belief would be a better word. We always believed we can do it .
"In the amount of games I've played in Europe for Celtic, we have always gone out to win. The old manager was the same. It worked for us here and it is fantastic."
Finally Mcdonald had this to say about his the new manager and his impact on last night's proceedings. "He's a great tactician, you never like coming off, but I am a team player and I was delighted when he scored."
Yours in Celtic
Clydebuilt