Celtic comfortably reached the Scottish Cup quarter final with a 0-2 win over Inverness Caledonian Thistle this afternoon but the home team will rue two moments of suicidal defending which gifted Celtic the important chances. Georgios Samaras put his laces through the ball to score from a tight angle before Scott Brown converted a penalty after Gary Hooper created a chance from nothing.
Hooper tried a cocky back heal early on after creating a chance for himself but Inverness keeper Tuffey blocked. Nick Ross was first to test Fraser Forster with a shot from the 18 yard line but the keeper dived to his bottom right to turn the ball round the post. Meekings had a good chance from the resultant corner but Kelvin Wilson blocked.
Kris Commons started his first game in over two months and could have converted but missed his shot after Hooper cut back from the goal line. Samaras and Commons then combined well to setup Hooper for a shot from the edge of the box that was saved by Tuffey.
The opening goal arrived after 33 minutes when Commons played a forward pass from deep which Ross Tokely should have cleared but didn’t make a clean contact on, allowing Georgios Samaras to run clean through and thunder an unstoppable shot from a tight angle high into the net.
Five minutes after the break Matthews, Brown, Commons and Hooper combined in the best move of the game before Hooper crossed but Samaras shot from 6 yards flew over. Moments later Samaras had a chance from even closer when Ledley crossed from the left but he could not turn his attempt from three yards goal-wards.
The Greek striker was continually a threat and got on the end of a Mulgrew free kick to head from 12 yards but the attack was temporarily cleared. Gary Hooper collected at the corner of the box and passed deep to where he thought Scott Brown was but on seeing Brown was elsewhere the Englishman chased after the ball and robbed Proctor on the line. The Inverness defender then tripped Hooper as he closed in on goal to concede a penalty. Scott Brown converted with the kind of ease that will have Neil Lennon wondering how his team managed to miss so many penalties in the last two years.
James Forrest replaced the tiring Commons and ripped up the field before shoot wide from 8 yards as Celtic closed out the game comfortably.
Let’s hope we get a home draw in the next round. Although, Tannadice would be acceptable….
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HAi HAil
Treble
Podium
Having a party
UC
Come on Celtic
Starry
Thats another of the Christmas card list ;-)
Dang it 5th – you gotta be quick
Great result and a podium
You ARE Gary Hooper
Well top ten anyway
starry:
so anxious to nail a podium you spelled Hail Hail! wrong…
Desperado?
:-))
Fantastic result. Who says Hoops doesnt have workrate?? The bhoy ran his socks off.
Another clean sheet for another new back 4, looking good.
Love, love, love Mr Lennon’s team.
Make mine a treble.
WWC
Hai is shark in German. Under the sneaky circumstances, I think it might have been meant ;-)
HH
Mon Dundee Utd,I don’t want to call them the Arabs as the huns are going to steal that name for having their heads buried in the sand.
harrybradycsc
Champagne on ice. Cohibas in the humidor.
Celtic have to start challenging these shocking referees who seem to book our guys for first tackles but allow the opposition to kick lumps out of us with no bookings or sending offs .
Very pleased with the performance and result today, both on and off the field. A thoroughly professional job by the players and great entertainment from the support.
One more step closer to a glorious treble.
Who’s gonna stop us?
Motherwell at home in the quarter-final would be nice.
Bring on the Jambos.
Oglach
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6PX3Ym7b2g&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL72F2F6803DD7130D
TAL
PAUL67
Never mind Tannadice. Ibrox in the next round and finish them off ourselves.
Ok into pub in inverness we go….
I see Motherwell, who, if memory serves, were being touted everywhere in the sports media, as the team who would split the ‘Old Firm’ in the league this season have scored against Morton.
Morton eh?
Woooooft!
U
Coleman Balls Chris Camara
“Yards ahead in his brain”
All attention now turns to Wednesday.
And I wonder:
How many John Wilsons will now be lining up for a go?
How tight will the security be?
How will our fans be treated?
How will those Gorgie Huns handle the demise of their Lords and Masters in Glasgow?
Three points amid that poison and we can put one hand on the League trophy.
Well done the team, Lenny and his lieutenants.
Another week of shenanigans off the pitch perhaps Paul? The death of a thousand cuts must at least be at “slice number 500”?
Awe_Naw:
I suspect you are being too generous pal…
Were you having a party in Germany?
The west Walian version was me in my living room singing along and ‘congoing’ from my computer chair.
Mrs WWC walked by, peeped in and walked on with a sigh, shaking her head…
:-)
Just how good were the support today? There simply aren’t enough words to describe my admiration for our support. It is a singular honour to consider oneself a Celtic supporter as you really do belong to a collective of very exceptional people.
ianinascoli: 4 February, 2012 at 15:01
“Butcher raging on radio and he has put his team on a war footing for next Saturday.”
Good. That’s further proof that we don’t need the Huns in order to have a competitive league.
Paul67,
I think if you had a poll, the support would happily take Tannadice now.
I really did think the “we love you Celtic we do” was a great way to cap off the humour and vibrancy from the Celtic support.
Thats it at the end of the day, when you strip and pull everything off all the way to the bones – we love our football club.
Same cant be said of that other mob
Teuchter ár lá says:
4 February, 2012 at 15:16
Cheers Mo Chara
Paul67 –
“after Gary Hooper created a chance from nothing”
Surely you mean ‘Russia-bound Gary Hooper’…
A year since Costa’s last goal in the EPL apparently…
oglach says:
4 February, 2012 at 15:20
Just how good were the support today? There simply aren’t enough words to describe my admiration for our support. It is a singular honour to consider oneself a Celtic supporter as you really do belong to a collective of very exceptional people.
I said to my daughter that the watching Huns would’ve been livid. Fans were at their brilliant best. Continuous backing of the team with large doses of Hun taunting administered! The cameras zoom in on the conga just at half time. :-) What’s not to like??
Had to follow the majority of the game on CQN (kudos to the Bhoys keeping us informed), but I am ecstatic at the win. Historically, it’s a difficult place to go, and we seemed to thrive on that wee bit of pressure today.
Onwards to Gorgie…
HH
Giggs
Can I give MOTM to Neil? Selection was spot on – totally nullified ICT’s main tactic of simply lumping the ball as far as possible into the Celtic half at every opportunity. Looks like lots of lessons learned from previous encounters. Commons sub was right player, right time too.
On the back of last weekend’s half time changes – inspired.
S
Paul 67
I don’t know about you but, I was absolutely disgusted with the Celtic fans/Green Brigade today!
I mean, not even ONE verse of YNWA ? :¬)))))))))
Hail! Hail!
Good, comfortable win today – hopefully injury-free.
Apologies if this has been posted already but, if not, check this gem out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnM0ju2Oij4&feature=player_embedded
Hail Hail
CB
Paul67
Are you able to express an opinion on the performance of the referee today?
If not perhaps you could pick a letter from the following.
A – Poor
B – Very poor
C – Incompetent
D – A blatant and shameless cheat
E – B.C and D combined.
Oglach
No probs
I have nothing but admiration for the away support too – especially
the night we all stood together on a Dingwall terracing when we all got literally soaked to the skin.
TAL