2017-03-05: Celtic 4-1 St Mirren, Scottish Cup

Match Pictures | Matches: 2016 – 2017 | 2016-17 Pictures

Trivia

• Quarter-finals.
• Celtic aiming for a treble, League (practically wrapped up) and League Cup already won.
• Celtic to face TheRangers in the next round. Aberdeen v Hibs in next round.
• Eboue finally gets his debut, a substituion on.
• Lisbon Lion – Tommy Gemmell has passed away on Mar 2nd. RIP
  
• Mintues silence held for Lisbon Lion Tommy Gemmell . RIP
• Appropriately for Tommy, a goal was scored in the 67th minute, and actually Celtic had gone behind in this game to fight back and equalise (with a goal by an attacking fullback), and wave after wave of pressure after sustained defence from the opposition led to their collapse and Celtic's victory.
• Dembele just can't stop scoring, although in this game he was lucky not to score an own goal.
• Rumours: Another Dembele rumour: Lionel Messi has given Barcelona chiefs a list of five players he wants the Catalan club to sign and it includes Moussa Dembele.

Review

(joebloggscity of KDS forum)
An emotional week after Lisbon Lion Tommy Gemmell passed away, and another link to the greatest moment in Celtic's history had now left us. RIP.

Incredible as it is to believe but Celtic were under the cosh in this game.

St Mirren are close to the bottom of the second tier, whilst Celtic have had an incredible record domestically and have not lost a single game with only one draw.

Yet, it was St Mirren who were on top for much of the game, taking a well deserved lead early on and holding onto it till around the 60th minute, when Griffifth was brought on, and it was the final spark that turned things round, and the final scoreline flatterred Celtic.

St Mirren got their tactics right, and gave Celtic a far tougher match than many SP teams this season. On this form they should survive in the second tier.

I'm sorry to say it but today proved that Gary Mackay-Steven won't make it at Celtic. His effort & work rate are excellent, but not enough. I hope he proves me wrong, but we have stepped up a level and he just can't seem to catch up. He might have hit a glass ceiling.

(lubolubo of KDS)
Our first half performance was a combination of really good tactics and application from the opposition (the man to man press has caused us early problems before but this had the added wrinkle of letting our CB's have all day on the ball knowing the press would funnel the ball to them) , a couple of players having legitimate stinkers, and a team wide inability to couple with the opposition tactics.

Our management team managed to cope with the oppositions game plan at half time, we removed the players having stinkers and tweaked our system to cope with the press.

Players will have stinkers, although unlike GMS most of them will have more credit in the tank (but to be fair to GMS he didn't hide he chased down, won the ball and showed for it but he was utterly woeful in possession) and occasionally we'll be temporarily tactically outmatched but the important thing is the collective group made the appropriate changes to cope.

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Stats

Celtic
St Mirren

Possession
Home62%
Away38%

Shots
Home13
Away6

Shots on Target
Home5
Away2

Corners
Home12
Away4

Fouls
Home9
Away10

Articles

Celtic 4 – 1 St Mirren: Rodgers’ men book semi-final spot

http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/competitions/scottish-cup/celtic-4-1-st-mirren-rodgers-men-book-semi-final-spot-1-4383616

Celtic survived a scare in their William Hill Scottish Cup tie against St Mirren before booking a semi-final place with an emphatic 4-1 win at Parkhead.

Buddies centre-back Harry Davis stunned the Hoops support with his goal from close range in the 13th minute and only the crossbar prevented the Championship’s bottom side doubling that lead in the 53rd minute.

The runaway Ladbrokes Premiership leaders had laboured, but two goals in quick succession through right-back Mikael Lustig and forward Scott Sinclair ended any prospects of a shock defeat.

In-form striker Moussa Dembele added a third with his 32nd of the season with substitute Leigh Griffiths, on for Nir Bitton, firing in the fourth as Brendan Rodgers’ side extended their unbeaten domestic run since the start of the season to 34 games.

Celtic join holders Hibernian, Old Firm rivals Rangers and the winner of the Aberdeen versus Partick game into the semi-final draw.

Before the excitement there was a pre-match minute’s silence in tribute to Tommy Gemmell, the “Lisbon Lions” full-back who died recently at the age of 73 following a long illness.

Jack Ross’s side, despite their lowly league position, had won their previous four matches and were unbeaten in five and sensationally found themselves ahead.

Midfielder Stephen Mallan knocked a free-kick wide to Cameron Smith, unsettling the Hoops defence, and his deep cross from the left was headed back across goal by striker John Sutton for Davis, on loan from Crewe, to slide in from five yards out.

The Buddies fans, like most people inside Celtic Park, could barely believe it. It was the first goal Rodgers’ side had conceded at home since December and the first in either the Betfred Cup or Scottish Cup this season.

There was no immediate response either, although skipper Scott Brown came close on the half-hour mark with a left-footed drive which went inches past the post.

There was little surprise when winger Patrick Roberts replaced the out-of-sorts Gary Mackay-Steven for the start of the second half.

However, just before Griffiths emerged from the dugout, Saints almost went 2-0 up, Dembele’s clearance from Mallan’s free-kick rebounding off the crossbar with goalkeeper Craig Gordon beaten, before Davis headed wide.

That proved to be the turning point of the game. Lustig flicked in a Roberts free-kick and order was restored when Sinclair curled the ball past Saints goalkeeper Billy O’Brien from 16 yards.

Celtic relaxed and pressed for more and in the 68th minute Dembele tapped in a Sinclair cross following good work by Roberts for his 12th goal in six games, and the 20-year-old French striker missed the target by inches from close range after being set up again by Sinclair.

Saints kept plugging away – Lewis Morgan curled a shot just wide – but the tie was effectively over.

Eboue Kouassi, the 19-year-old from the Ivory Coast bought in January from Krasnodar for a reported fee of around £3 million, replaced Stuart Armstrong to make his debut seconds before Griffiths drilled in number four from 25 yards.

Boyata headed in Griffiths’ corner but referee Steven McLean blew for an infringement and the flag was up when Griffiths knocked the ball in after Roberts’drive had rebounded off the post, the match ending with Celtic’s hopes of a treble still intact and St Mirren thinking of what might have been.

BBC

By Chick Young

BBC Scotland at Celtic Park

3 hours ago From the section Football

Scott Sinclair
Scott Sinclair grabbed his 18th goal of the season to put Celtic in front

Celtic survived an early scare against Championship side St Mirren to reach the Scottish Cup semi-finals.

The visitors took a shock lead on 13 minutes when John Sutton nodded down for Harry Davis to tap home.

Two Celtic goals in as many second-half minutes from Mikael Lustig and Scott Sinclair turned the match on its head and the home side never looked back.

Moussa Dembele and substitute Leigh Griffiths struck as the 36-times winners reached the last four.

Celtic paid Saints the respect of naming an unchanged side. Yet even though the Paisley club had won their previous two league matches, they were still being offered at odds of 40-1 for a victory here.

Emotion was thick in the air, as the match was preceded by a minute's silence in honour of Lisbon Lion Tommy Gemmell, who died this week.

Incredibly, it was St Mirren who took the lead. It was a cleverly worked free-kick down the left, as Stevie Mallan set up Cammy Smith with a disguised pass to the byline. His cross was nodded back into the heart of the six-yard box by Sutton and Davis was there to turn the ball home.
Harry Davies
Harry Davies gives St Mirren a shock early lead at Celtic Park

As the match progressed, it became clear Saints were equipped to give Brendan Rodgers' side as big a domestic test as they have faced this season at Parkhead.

In the wake of the goal, they sat in with a very disciplined 5-3-2 formation and survived some close calls, the most significant of which was a Scott Brown cut-back that Dembele made a total hash of.

Rodgers replaced the ineffective Gary Mackay-Steven with Patrick Roberts at half-time – but seven minutes into the second period, Celtic had a remarkable escape.

Mallan drove in a low free-kick to the near post which Dembele managed to divert against his own crossbar. It proved to be the turning point of the match.

With 58 minutes on the clock, Celtic were level. Roberts' delivery into the box from a free-kick out wide was good and Lustig headed home to give his team a grip on the tie again.
Mikael Lustig, Moussa Dembele
Mikael Lustig and Moussa Dembele were both on the scoresheet against St Mirren

Not much more than a minute later, they were ahead with a quite audacious goal from Sinclair. The Saints defence looked to have the situation under control but somehow the striker opened his foot and curled an outrageous effort into the top corner.

It was over as a contest now. Celtic made it 3-1 with an electric break with Sinclair at its heart. He powered forward, released Roberts, took the return and laid it on a plate for Dembele to tap home.

Saints were suffering in a way they didn't deserve. Griffiths, who had a huge influence on the game after coming off the bench, added a fourth with a fine left foot shot from just inside the box and the Paisley side were out on the floor.

Celtic march on to the semi-finals. St Mirren's thoughts turn back to Championship survival.