2010-09-22: Celtic 6-0 Inverness Caledonian Thistle, League Cup

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• Celtic go through to the quarter-finals.
• Rangers won 7-2 the night before to go through.
• Samaras scores a hat-trick!!!!!!

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A great win for Celtic and we score a barrow load with a surprise hat-trick from Samaras and a double from Stokes. We could have won by even more……

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Celtic 6 Inverness CT 0: Georgios Samaras' treble puts Highland pain to bed(Mail.co.uk)

By Stephen Mcgowan Last updated at 12:31 AM on 23rd September 2010

His Celtic career was almost ended by a Highland uprising. Last night, Georgios Samaras had his revenge, routing Inverness with a ruthlessness worthy of the Duke of Cumberland.

Five months ago, the Greek international was subjected to a torrent of abuse after a dire display against Ross County in the Scottish Cup semi-final , his Celtic future hanging by a thread.
If last night's hat-trick was hardly an exorcism, it did at least go some way towards removing the ghost of some horrendous Celtic cup defeats to Highland opposition.

Ten years since that win in Glasgow's east end, Inverness Caledonian Thistle never threatened another of their famous acts of scalp-hunting here.

Manager Terry Butcher might well have ended the night ballistic, but Celtic were far from atrocious.

In a reshaped line-up, minus regulars such as Scott Brown, Cha Du-Ri, Daryl Murphy and Beram Kayal, Samaras returned to the first-team spotlight. His three goals were opportunist in quality, while Gary Hooper's recent injury frustration was ended with a superb finish from the Greek World Cup star's assist.
Anthony Stokes then took centre stage, calmly finishing a penalty in 73 minutes before scoring the goal of the night from 20 yards in 81 minutes.

For Celtic's strikers, this was a good night. Aside from striking the bar when he should have scored in the first half, Samaras, in particular, could do no wrong here.

He completed his evening with a composed low right-foot finish in a crowded area from 12 yards in 57 minutes before trotting off to a sponsors' man-of-the-match award and a rousing ovation from the sparse crowd before the end.

With Celtic 5-0 ahead by then, his work was done. The only black marks for Neil Lennon here came from the sights of Hooper and left-back Emilio Izaguirre leaving the field injured.

Hooper, the £2.5million signing from Scunthorpe, had only just returned from injury and limped into the dugout in the 90th minute. The Honduran, meanwhile, left the play after 11 minutes holding his upper thigh.
For all the early invention of an Inverness strike force where young Nick Ross and Shane Sutherland began brightly, Celtic had little else to concern them here.

The Highlanders should have scored within 30 seconds when Sutherland burst clear on the left flank and picked out Ross in the box, but Ki Sung Yueng provided a timely block tackle.

By the 21st minute, however, Celtic had the game won, with a thoroughly miserable night for Butcher's side already taking shape.

There was a fortuitous touch to the goal in 16 minutes which set Samaras on his way, Ki's probing corner running to the edge of the area where Joe Ledley thumped it low into a crowded six yard box. Instinctively extending his right foot, Samaras re-directed the ball into the top corner of the net.

There was more cause for embarrassment moments later when Ledley, this time in the rightback position, sent a raking long high ball towards a gaping hole in the Inverness back-line.

Samaras had all the time to beat Jonny Tuffey in the Inverness goal before the Northern Irishman deflected the ball onto the crossbar.
Perhaps in mitigation of Samaras is the fact that he began this game on the left flank, Hooper and Stokes occupying the central roles. It was from there that the lanky, bearded striker picked out Hooper on the penalty spot, the Englishman sharply turning Stuart Golabek to prod the ball under Tuffey. For Golabek it was, in truth, a wretched first period.

The gaps which appeared in defence were alarming and prompted Butcher to replace the stopper with Richie Foran at the interval. By then, however, Celtic were three goals up, Samaras claiming his second.

He defied offside claims from the visitors to drift into a huge void and take his time with Ki's long ball. His chip over Tuffey helped over the line by David Proctor's attempted clearance.

Caley did manage to test Fraser Forster on the half-hour, when Ross and Sutherland combined to tee up Jonny Hayes, but his shot hit the on-loan keeper's legs.
For Inverness, however, this was now damage limitation. Their cause was hardly helped in 54 minutes when Lee Cox limped off in the centre circle, felled by a shocking and dangerous studs-up challenge from Ki.

The Samaras finish in 74 minutes witnessed him make way for Stokes to take centre stage.

His penalty saw Tuffey slightly fortunate to escape with a mere yellow card for a penalty-area trip in an act of mercy from referee Dougie McDonald. If so, it was the only act of mercy all night. Stokes ended the night with the piece de resistance, taking his tally to three in two games with a superb right-foot shot into the top corner from 20 yards.

Celtic cruised into the quarter finals of the Co-operative Insurance Cup at the expense of Inverness Caley Thistle.

Georgios Samaras put Celtic ahead in the 17th minute when he re-directed a Joe Ledley drive from close range.
Gary Hooper doubled the lead four minutes later, then Samaras scored his second from an Efrain Juarez pass.
The Greece international recorded his hat-trick with a close-range effort and Anthony Stokes netted a double including a 74th minute penalty.

Story from BBC SPORT:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport1/hi/football/scot_cups/9013893.stm

Published: 2010/09/22 20:43:27 GMT

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