Ange Postecoglou’s side booked their place in the Quarter Finals of the Scottish Cup with a comprehensive 4-0 win over Raith Rovers. It wasn’t the prettiest from the Premiership leaders but they did the business with a second-half flurry to see off the visitors from Kirkcaldy.
Celtic took the lead after 23 minutes when Liam Scales received a clever pass from Tom Rogic at the edge of the area, before blasting the ball into the net from the edge of the box.
The substitution of Jota for Mikey Johnston injected pace, purpose and quality to Celtic’s attack. He assisted Giorgos Giakoumakis, who made it 2-0. Reo Hatate played an exceptional pass through to Jota on the left hand side, who drove towards the Raith box before squaring the ball to the big Greek striker, who made no mistake. A side-footed chance left Jamie MacDonald with no chance.
It was 3-0 soon after when Maeda found himself on the end of a Tony Ralston flick-on. It took Maeda two attempts, however, as Jamie MacDonald pulled off an excellent save but the rebound was tapped into the empty net by the Japanese forward.
Jota smashed the ball goalbound and Mackie’s hand was in the way of the goal. Nir Bitton picked the ball up and had his effort saved but scored the follow-up.
The cushion gave the manager the opportunity to give Christopher Jullien game time at the heart of the Celtic defence. The French defender received a rousing reception as he entered the field of play.
Celtic go into the hat tonight with the draw taking place after Peterhead host Dundee.
