Celtic grab the spoils to book Cup final place
HEARTS striker Steven MacLean brushed off his tussle with Celtic midfielder Eboue Kouassi as a “laugh” after Celtic’s League Cup semi-final win.
Kouassi went down in apparent agony holding the front of his shorts and accused MacLean of grabbing him after the pair clashed at a corner. He went off moments later, but had been limping prior to the incident.
However, MacLean said: “It was just a laugh, just a coming together. If I went down every time a centrehalf niggled me I would be on my backside all day. It was just handbags.”
The 36-year-old striker was on a yellow card at the time of the incident and referee Willie Collum spoke to the pair afterwards, but the Hearts player felt he had been hard done by after being booked for an aerial challenge on Mikael Lustig, who went down clutching his head.
“It was never a booking,” MacLean said. “You could see it on the screen. I think everybody in the stadium saw it. To be fair, me and Willie get on well, it was just unfortunate. He said if it wasn’t a booking then he apologised, which is fair enough.”
MacLean lost strike partner Steven Naismith to injury inside eight minutes and grew increasingly isolated in the second-half as Celtic took control.
After a fairly uneventful and goalless first 45 minutes, the Parkhead side took the lead in the 53rd minute when Gorgie midfielder Oliver Bozanic tripped Ryan Christie in the penalty area, allowing fellow sub Scott Sinclair to slam in the penalty.
In a unique cup semi-final at the home of Scottish rugby, James Forrest capitalised on a mistake by Gorgie keeper Zdenek Zlamal to fire in an easy second. Christie then scored a wonderful third to set up a final appearance at Hampden Park on December 2 against Aberdeen, who beat Rangers 1-0.
Lewis Ferguson dashed Steven Gerrard’s hopes of leading the Gers to a Cup final in his first season.
Dons youngster Ferguson – son of former Ibrox hero Derek and nephew of ex-skipper Barry – wrecked those plans as he headed home the winner with 11 minutes left.
Rangers captain James Tavernier has offered an apology to the Ibrox support after his side’s latest Hampden nightmare.
“I can only apologise on behalf of the lads today to the fans watching the game.
“It’s not good enough for a Rangers team not to be in the final. We’re really disappointed.”