SEBASTIAN TOUNEKTI is swiftly turning into Celtic’s go-to guy in this season’s Scottish Cup adventure.
In the opening round, the tantalising Tunisian touchline performer came off the substitutes’ bench just after the hour mark to replace evergreen James Forrest as the Hoops toiled to see off sixth-tier Auchinleck Talbot at Rugby Park.
Martin O’Neill’s side were leading 1-0 through a Johnny Kenny strike but had failed to put the tie to bed.
Tounekti provided the answer near the end when he waltzed in from the left before curling an unstoppable effort high into the net to seal the victory.
THE VICTOR AND THE VANQUISHED…Sebastian Tounekti runs away in triumph after scoring the Scottish Cup winner past Dundee keeper John McCracken.
However, his team’s need was even more urgent last night when he came on for Yang Hyun-jun in the 70th minute with the Hoops heading for a disastrous 1-0 home defeat to Dundee.
Cometh the hour cometh the man and Tounekti threw his side a lifeline by setting up the equaliser for debutant Junior Adamu with only three seconds left to play of regulation time.
Just over a minute into extra-time, the swivel-hipped winger played a neat one-two with Luke McCowan before racing clear and firing a low shot beyond John McCracken for what proved to be the winning goal.
Afterwards, Tounekti drew breath following his startling and welcoming exploits and, speaking to Celtic TV, said: “It’s an amazing feeling.
THREE CHEERS…matchwinner Sebastian Tounekti is congratulated by Luke McCowan and Junior Adamu.
“Maybe the game wasn’t the best for us, but we kept on going, we kept on fighting and I’m just glad that I could help the team to win.
“I haven’t maybe scored a lot or made a lot of assists, but I want to help the team with that because I am that player who can do that so, hopefully, it will be the start of many.
“We’re improving every day and we just have to keep going because we want to win every game and we want win every competition we’re in.”
The strike against the valiant Tayside outfit was Tounekti’s fourth since his £5.2million summer arrival and he’ll be hoping to boost his tally when the champions take on Livingston at Parkhead on Wednesday night.
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