PARTICK THISTLE 0 CELTIC 4
CELTIC sidestepped the Firhill banana skin as they pulverised Mark Wilson’s team into submission long before the final whistle in their Premier Sports League Cup quarter-final.
Any hopes Thistle had of the Hoops being distracted by off-field events backfired as Brendan Rodgers’ men safely negotiated their way to a semi-final meeting with Russell Martin’s struggling Ibrox outfit at Hampden.
First-half goals from Yang Hyun-jun and Liam Scales paved the way to the national stadium and impressive new Bhoy Sebastian Tounetki helped himself to his first Celtic strike immediately after the turnaround.
Luke McCowan topped it all off with a clever counter near the end.
The holders sparked to life with two goals in three minutes to flatten their Championship opponents who had weathered an early storm.
NUMBER ONE…Yang Hyun-jun makes no mistake with a close-range header.
Tounetki picked up where he left off against Kilmarnock a week ago with a lively performance on the left wing as he looked eager to drive at the home defence.
Kieran Tierney and Callum McGregor were both presented with opportunities after the twinkle-toed Tunisian had put the Jags under pressure, but, alas, the Hoops stars were well off target as they blazed their attempts waywardly over the bar.
In the 12th minute, Kelechi Iheanacho demonstrated he, too, could be just as wild with his finishing with a drive that flew high and wide.
Just when it looked like it was turning into one of those days, Yang struck in the 26th minute to be swiftly followed by Scales.
The South Korean winger got in at the back post to get his head to a clever left-wing cross from Benjamin Nygren after some good lead-up play from Reo Hatate and Tounetki.
The Swede picked out the unmarked Yang who nodded down from six yards with the ball glancing off a defender on its inevitable path towards the net.
NUMBER TWO…scorer Liam Scales is congratulated by Benjamin Nygren.
Keeper Lewis Budinaukas then made a superb save from the ever-dangerous Tounetki who had been sent clear through the middle by an astute pass from Hatate.
The £5.2million new Bhoy hit the ball with ferocious power, but the Thistle keeper managed to beat the ball to safety at the expense of a corner-kick.
It proved only to delay the second goal by a matter of moments.
Tounetki rolled the left-wing set-play to Nygren who swept a cross to the near post and Scales glanced an angled header high past the flummoxed Jags No.1 to double his team’s advantage.
Celtic maintained the pressure and should have claimed a third goal just before the turnaround when Iheanacho sent Yang scampering clear on the right and the winger whipped in a low cross to the near post.
Hatate arrived just too late to make a proper connection and diverted an effort wide of the left-hand post.
NUMBER THREE…Sebastian Tounetki claims his first Celtic strike with a a low drive beyond helpless Partick Thistle keeper Lewis Budinaukas.
Within a minute of the restart, it was 3-0 as Tounetki claimed his first strike for the club.
Once again, the Tunisian international raced towards the danger zone after picking up a pass just inside the Jags half.
He bore down on goal, worked a neat one-two with Iheanacho and then buried a low drive past the helpless Budinauckas.
That goal had been coming from the very start of this encounter.
On the hour mark, Brendan Rodgers made a treble substitution as he sent of Paulo Bernardo, Daizen Maeda and Michel-Ange Balikwisha for McGregor, Iheanacho and Tounetki.
Eight minutes later, Arne Angels was introduced for Hatate and then it was the turn of McCowan to come on for Nygren.
NUMBER FOUR…Luke McCowan lashes in the final goal at Firhill.
In the 79th minute, McCowan lashed in the fourth to complete a good afternoon for the holders.
Balikwisha deserves credit for challenging Luke McBeth for a loose ball that broke to the energetic midfielder.
McCowan carried it on and then fired a low shot wide of the keeper at his left-hand post.
It was also good to see Tierney complete his first full game since his summer return.
All in, not a bad day for the champions. Now we have a derby in early November to look forward to.
Bring it on!
TEAM: Sinisalo; Donovan, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Tierney; Nygren (sub: McCowan 71), McGregor (sub: Bernardo 60), Hatate (sub: Engels 68); Yang, Iheanacho (sub: Maeda 60), Tounetki (sub: Balikwisha 60).
