Celtic 6-2 St.Mirren [AET]: Hoops reach fourth straight Scottish Cup final

Glasgow Celtic secured a place in next month’s Scottish Cup final with a drmatic 6-2 win over St.Mirren at Hampden Park this afternoon.

Celtic went two goals to the good before half-time, with Dazin Maeda and Anthony Ralston getting on the scoresheet. However, a brace from Mikaël Mandron pulled the game back to 2-2 and sent it to extra time.

The Hoops proved too much for the Saints in extra time however, with four goals flying in between Kelechi Iheanacho, Benjamin Nygren and Luke McCowan to wrap up the win.

As It Happened

Celtic flew out of the traps and opened the scoring inside the first minute, when Maeda chased down the goalkeeper and pinched the ball, which rolled over the line. St.Miren were forced to change their goalkeeper, Ryan Mullen, in the 15th minute due to injury. He was replaced by Grant Tamosevicius.

Tamosevicius was called into action almost immediately to deny Maeda a second goal of the afternoon. The Saints’ first opportunity of the match came on the half-hour mark, when Liam Donnelly forced a strong save from Viljami Sinisalo. The Celtic keeper was forced into yet another save just minutes later, after his clearance clattered off St.Mirren’s Killian Phillips. Arne Engels was shown the first yellow card of the match shortly after.

Phillips gave up a huge chance shortly before the break, failing to get the desired connection on his strike to turn the ball into the net. Celtic instantly capitalised on the missed opportunity moments later, when Ralston doubled their lead with a thunderous strike on the stroke of half-time.

St.Mirren got themselves back into the game shortly after the break, when Mandron headed home to give his side a potential lifeline. Minutes later, Allan Campbell made his way into the referee’s notebook for a foul on Ralston.

Celtic’s first change came on the hour mark, when club legend James Forrest replaced Sebastian Tounekti, ten minutes later, they made two more changes, which saw Engels and Callum McGregor replaced by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Luke McCowan. The Saints made a triple substitution in the 75th minute, with Jayden Richardson, Roland Idowu and Jake Young replacing Campbell, Phillips and Jonah Ayunga.

Mark O’Hara came close to levelling the score for St.Mirren, but his header cleared the bar. More changes followed for the Saints when Liam Donnelly was replaced by Conor McMenamin, before Sinisalo made a superb double save to deny them an equaliser.

Kelechi Iheanacho and Marcelo Saracchi were then introduced for Celtic, with Hyun-Jun Yang and Kieran Tierney’s afternoon coming to an end. As four minutes of additional time were announced at Hampden Park, Mandron found the net again, with a superb finish into the bottom corner, to take the tie to extra time.

Martin O’Neill made one change ahead of the extra half hour, which saw Benjamin Arthur replaced by Dane Murray. O’Hara was booked early in extra time following a foul on Forrest, moments later Iheanacho found the net for Celtic to give them the lead once again.

Celtic then added three more goals in as many minutes through McCowan and Benjamin Nygren, as well as a second for Iheanacho. McCowan was shown a yellow card before the half-time break in extra time.

Craig McLeish made a change to his side at the break, with Scott Tanser replacing Declan John. The remainder of the game petered out, with Celtic securing their spot in the Scottish Cup final next month.