THERE was only one homecoming hero in Molde last night and it wasn't Ronny Deila. The Celtic manager's first competitive return to the country he left as Norwegian champion some 17 months ago ended in a humiliating reverse to a team on course for a seventh-place finish in the Norwegian Tippeligaen, even if they were inspired by the appointment of all-time Norway folk hero Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on the eve of this tie.

Redemption could yet be found when these two teams reconvene at Celtic Park on fireworks night, but rather than a glorious homecoming this might just go down as the night when it all started to unravel for this Celtic team. Kris Commons, the scorer of Celtic's goal and one of their best performers of the night, had a rammy with Deila's assistants John Collins and John Kennedy after being unpopularly withdrawn for Nadir Ciftci after 76 minutes, while Leigh Griffiths and Dedryck Boyata had a blinding row after the loss of the killer third goal. This was a third strike for Deila, after coaching reverses against his coaching countrymen Henning Berg of Legia Warsaw and Age Hareide of Malmo, even if the fans' ire resulted only in generalised booing and one chant against chief executive Peter Lawwell.

Again, defensive errors were Celtic's undoing. The three Craig Gordon conceded here means they have now shipped 35 goals in 21 matches under Deila and there is nothing Carlton Cole, secured on a contract until 2017 yesterday, will be able to do about that.

While Solskjaer had the good grace to stick with the team selection of Erling Moe, the man whose job he has effectively just taken, Deila was facing up to a fair old defensive dilemma. He ignored the clamour to rush Jozo Simunovic back into action after a month out with an ankle problem, and decided against sticking with the callow figure of on-loan Manchester United defender Tyler Blackett after his clean sheet at Motherwell, in favour of a re-statement of confidence in Efe Ambrose. The Nigerian has been pillaried by his own supporters in the wake of the soft headed backpass which ultimately cost Celtic two precious points against Fenerbahce. He was no worse than anyone else here, but there was a collective culpability about Celtic in both attack and defence.

In addition to Ambrose's positional shift, there were three personnel changes from the side which cantered to victory in Lanarkshire. Leigh Griffiths returned up front, Stefan Johansen was another Norwegian embarrassed in front of his ain folk, while Mikael Lustig, a man who had a couple of successful seasons at Rosenborg, took Ambrose's old place at right back.

A little bit of rain is good for an artificial surface, the kind of unremitting deluge which fell on Molde last night less so. The sheer cumulative amount of surface water on the Aker Stadium surface, coupled with the wind, made the ball behave unpredictably. Celtic ermerged clad all in green with the logo of the club's charity foundation on their strips, due to Norwegian laws banning promotion of alcohol on jerseys.

This Molde side sit seventh in the Norwegian league with three games remaining but they are no mugs and they fancy themselves in this competition. They now lead Group A by a distance, courtesy of a game style which is all about sitting in and hitting teams on the counter.

If the pivot of this formation is 40-year-old Daniel Berg Hestad, a man who is older than Deila, the apex is Ola Kamara, a striker to whom Deila owes a debt. The Norwegian of Sierra Leone extraction fired his Stromsgodset to the Norwegian league title and he gave his countryman a reminder of his worth here.

Again a defensive mis-step from Celtic was at the heart of it. Boyata's pass only succeeded in presenting the ball to Mohamed Elyounoussi on halfway and the Norwegians carved through Celtic in an alarmingly simple manner. Elyounoussi cut infield and mastered the elements sufficiently to roll a perfect slide rule pass into the run of Kamara as he peeled off Ambrose. The Nigerian never got close to him and Gordon was beaten fairly easily at his near post.

The second goal was even worse. Celtic couldn't clear their lines from a Molde corner and when Finnish international Joona Toivio twisted and turned to provide a deep cross, his fellow centre half Vegard Forren, a maintsay of the Norwegian side, fired in a volley which skidded off the turf and in.

The travelling support left the players in no uncertain terms that better was required in the second half and the early signs were good, Commons pouncing on a rare Martin Linnes error to fool Forren and clip the ball right-footed over Ethan Horvath.

But within a minute all the work was undone. Molde worked a yard out wide on the right, Mattias Mostrom pinged over a cross and Elyounoussi arrived perfectly to fire in a low finish which Craig Gordon couldn't keep out. As the recriminations began, perhaps Kamara had a pang of guilt for what he was inflicting on his former manager, because he missed two glaring chances to extend Molde's lead, first mistiming a header then rolling wide when clean through. But this was bad enough for Celtic's bedraggled band of travelling fans, and their manager on his inglorious homecoming. He didn't even have to make it onto the park, but with another late substitution, the baby-faced assassin had claimed another victim. Deila must act quickly to make sure the damage isn't terminal.