Celtic began the recovery process from a very disappointing Europa League exit yesterday with their 34th consecutive domestic cup victory.
It was a rough and tumble encounter at McDiarmid Park on a chewed up pitch that lent itself to an entertaining 90 minutes of back and forth olds school cup action.
The home side fared far better against the men in hoops than they have in recent encounters where they’ve been pretty much blown off the pitch and created a few of their own chances.
In the second half, in particular, Celtic came agonisingly close on a few occasions which made you wonder if it was going to be our day as Zander Clark produced some fine stops in the opposition goal but it was pure luck that kept the scoreline gridlocked deep into the second half when an Edouard backheel came off the post only for the rebound to somehow be placed wide by the outstretched leg of Christopher Jullien.
Minutes later though Celtic finally got the winner when a perfectly flighted Ryan Christie free-kick evaded everyone including the Saints keep and ended up the net.
The initial replays seemed to indicated that big Jullien got the faintest of touches on to it but he has since admitted himself that he didn’t so for Christie it’s goal number 19 of a fabulous campaign that has been slightly curtailed in recent months.
The match ended 1-0 and Celtic move onto a semi-final match against Aberdeen at Hampden on the weekend of April 11/12th.
We met them at the same point of the competition last season and gubbed them 3-0 so let’s hope for more of the same.
Meanwhile, the other semi-final will be a blood and thunder Edinburgh derby after Hearts beat Rangers on early Saturday evening with a 1-0 win that has left their manager Steven Gerrard completely perplexed and considering his future based on the post-match interview.
Once again his team came a cropper in the capital against the Premiership’s bottom side and looked pretty blunt while doing so.
Unless we capitulate in the league then any silverware for the light blues looks an impossibility with the only other avenue being the Europa League.
Their fans went from wild celebrations at their Last 16 progression on Wednesday evening to incredulous rage only 72 hrs later and any opportunity they had to lord it over us didn’t last long at all.
Normal service resumed then.
Gerrard is unlikely to quit anytime soon but the fact he’s publicly mentioned that he’s even considering it tells its own story as the Ibrox fairytale turns sour.
That’s a recurring theme over there.
Onto Wednesday and a visit to the Tony Macaroni Arena to play Livingston.
That’s a potential banana skin considering their current run of form and the fact they are the only team outside of Rangers to beat us this season.
We must be wary but another win gets us that one step closer to the hallowed nine.
It should be some game. Bring it on.
I’ll do a more in-depth preview of our visit to the West Lothian club tomorrow.
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....Always A Tim! 