CELTIC were staring at Premier Sports League Cup oblivion for an hour at Parkhead yesterday.
The champions, who had won their previous seven games without ever falling behind, went in 2-1 down to Championship outfit Falkirk as the visitors refused to follow the script.
It was the same scoreline until the 61st minute which prompted Brendan Rodgers to make four changes with £11million man Arne Engels, Nicolas Kuhn, Greg Taylor and Yang Hyun-jun replacing Reo Hatate, James Forrest, Alex Valle and Luis Palma.
Thankfully the Hoops sparked to life and nine minutes later Adam Idah levelled before the Republic of Ireland international frontman lashed in No.3 in lightning fashion before Kuhn took centre stage with two more classy strikes.
FIVE ALIVE…Nicolas Kuhn celebrates his second and Celtic’s fifth goal against Falkirk.
The German winger had an incredible impact on proceedings following his introduction.
Kuhn, who has been flying this season, set up both goals for Idah as well as hoisting his personal strike tally to an impressive five.
Paulo Bernardo had claimed a whizzbang ferocious first-time effort in the first 45 minutes to level Ross MacIver’s 22-yard drive that left Kasper Schmeichel helpless. The Dane was stranded again just on half-time when Finn Yeats headed in a second.
Rodgers accepted full responsibility for the sluggish performance for an hour after making eight changes to the line-up from the side that overwhelmed Slovan Bratislava 5-1 in the opening Champions League encounter during the week.
Auston Trusty got his first start, Valle made his debut, Stephen Welsh was in for a kick-off for the first time since the 2-1 victory over Feyenoord back in December and Luis Palma was also given a starting berth.
The Celtic gaffer said: “We had to work very hard in the game. And that’s what we expected beforehand.
“We lacked a bit of fluency in the first 60 minutes and that’s on me because I need to see players and give them game time.
LOOKING AHEAD…Brendan Rodgers welcomes a League Cup semi-final against Aberdeen.
“We got minutes in to the legs of some players, they got the opportunity to play at Celtic Park and then we have the opportunity to make some changes.
“Obviously, you want that contribution to take place and we needed it. The guys who came on changed the direction of the game for us.
“It’s the third game in what has been a busy week for us, full of emotion and physicality, but the players have come through it so well.“I was pleased with how we finished the game overall and we’re in to the semi-final which is nice.”
Rodgers’ men will now face Aberdeen in the last-four tie in November and the Irishman, speaking to Celtic TV, added: “Any semi-final is tough.
“But we’ll have played Aberdeen before we meet at Hampden, so we’ll get an idea close-up of what they’re like.
“In terms of results so far, Jimmy Thelin and his staff have done fantastically well.
“They’ll arrive with confidence, but when that time comes, we’ll be ready for it.”
