CELTIC 4 FALKIRK 1
CELTIC scored four and should have had more as they secured their place in the Premier Sports League Cup quarter-final draw tomorrow night.
The hosts had been troubled by Falkirk in the competition last season and trailed 2-1 until the 70th minute before they brought on some big guns from the bench and swept to a 5-2 triumph.
There was no such nail-biting drama at Parkhead this evening as the holders got the job done with goals from Daizen Maeda, Alistair Johnston, Dane Murray and a deflection from Liam Henderson in a comprehensive and convincing display.
It was a full-throttle Celtic throughout a largely one-sided encounter as they threatened to blow the Premiership new boys away.
THE WAY AHEAD…Brendan Rodgers directs the traffic.
Remarkably, the hosts went in just one goal to the good following Maeda’s diving header in the 26th minute which came just moments after Arne Engels had clattered the crossbar with a cute angled free-kick from the left.
The Japanese ace, who hit 22 goals last season, had not celebrated a strike since the 5-0 Scottish Cup semi-final win over St Johnstone in April, but he made no mistake as he brought a welcome halt to the mystifying drought.
Callum McGregor carried on a sequence of quick passes when he sent an inviting ball into the box where the lively Kieran Tierney was perfectly positioned to head across the box.
Maeda launched himself at the cross to make excellent contact and former Hoops keeper Scott Bain had no chance as the pacy frontman’s six-yard effort flashed past him at his left-hand side.
Just moments earlier, the shotstopper had been left stranded when Engels whipped in a wicked deadball attempt after Tierney had been flattened outside the box.
Bain flapped at the ball, but couldn’t get a touch and was rescued as the attempt thudded against the woodwork before being smuggled clear.
TAKE OFF…Daizen Maeda flies through the air to head in the opener against Falkirk.
Murray, who signed an extension to his contract until June 2028 earlier in the day, and Auston Trusty were rarely brought into action as their team-mates virtually camped in the opposition’s half.
However, Viljami Sinisalo was forced to show he was in full concentration mode when he flew full-length to his right to push away a rasping drive from Calvin Miller from just outside the box.
Before that, though, the hosts had squandered a conveyor belt of chances with Johnny Kenny slow to react to low crosses coming in from both wings, with Tierney and James Forrest the providers.
The veteran outside-right should also have got on the scoresheet seven minutes from the interval after Luke McCowan had produced a peach of a cross from the left.
Forrest rose from six yards, but his header went waywardly over the crossbar much to the relief of Bain.
Alistair Johnston showed his team-mate how it’s done when he doubled the side’s advantage in the 53rd minute.
PICK IT OUT…Alistair Johnston slams the second past former Celtic team-mate Scott Bain.
Ex-Celtic prospect Miller dwelled on the ball 30 yards and was robbed by the Canadian international right-back who powered into the danger zone.
The defender whipped a left-foot drive past the exposed Bain to his right as the Hoops claimed a well-deserved second goal.
And it got better eight minutes later when Engels, who had sent in an array of inviting corner-kicks all night, picked out Murray with a delivery from the left.
The centre-back celebrated his new deal by rising from six yards and glancing in No.3.
In the 63rd minute, Brendan Rodgers introduced Liam Scales, Yang Hyun-jun and Shin Yamada to replace Tierney, Maeda and Kenny.
Only a minute later, defender Liam Henderson deflected a low cross from Yang following some ticky footwork from the South Korean into his own net for the fourth goal.
In the 68th minute, Falkirk netted through Keelan Adams with a ferocious angled right-foot drive that flew high past the startled Sinisalo with the Hoops defence caught off guard.
Benjamin Nygren and Paulo Bernardo made appearances as they took over from Forrest and Engels.
In the end, this was a command performance from the holders and we now await to see who will present the next hurdle at the last eight stage.
All will be revealed tomorrow around 8pm.
TEAM: Sinisalo; Johnston, Murray, Trusty, Tierney (sub: Scales 63); McCowan, McGregor, Engels (sub: Bernardo 77); Forrest (sub: Nygren 77), Kenny (sub: Yamada 63) and Maeda (sub: Yang 63).
