BRACE YOURSELVES
Bhoys book a final date with Moussa and Mikael at the double in Hampden thriller
NO well is bottomless – but the depths Celtic keep finding to their reserves make you wonder.
Just 50 hours back in the country after spending Wednesday night running half the distance round the globe chasing Bayern Munich, they had their domestic record pushed to the limit.
But still they found what they needed to hold off Hibs in a secondhalf thrill ride. Still they found the last charge at the bottom of their batteries to stretch their unbeaten to 60 games and defend the first trophy won under Brendan Rodgers.
It was surprising Rodgers hadn’t gone for fresher legs. It felt like a game for Moussa Dembele to replace Leigh Griffiths from the off, for James Forrest ahead of Patrick Roberts, Tom Rogic for Stuart Armstrong. But Rodgers has faith not just in their staying power but their character to deal with adversity as well. In the end, when he did call on his subs, all three contributed to the goals which won them the game.
The opener came from Marvin Bartley giving away cheap possession with a slack pass. Celtic broke the way they always do and next thing you know there’s a free kick on the edge of the box up the other end. Next phase of play? Stuart Armstrong’s cross is won by Dedryck Boyata between Hibs’ two biggest bodies on the six yard line, Brandon Barker is dreaming at the back post as Mikael Lustig steps off him and the Swede slides the ball home low.
The Easter Road side did have one chance before the break, a 30-yard free-kick from Stokes which tested Craig Gordon.
Three minutes later Griffiths’ corner was deep but this time it was David Gray who let Lustig wheel off him, and despite the ball raking down the Swede’s shin with the finish, it was still enough to squeeze through a lamentable Ross Laidlaw effort to stop.
Gray and Bartley were victims of Lennon’s mini-cull at the break and it had the desired effect.
Hibs improved and though Kieran Tierney grazed the post for celtic it was soon 2-1 as Boyata was ruled to have fouled Martin Boyle and Stokes slotted home from the spot to turn it into a contest. For five minutes at any rate. A fresh injection of legs from Rodgers later and it went up in anrun other puff of defensive smoke.
Sinclair’s effort from sub James Forrest’s cut back was a total miskick but it fell perfectly for Dembele and he had time to pick his spot.
It wasn’t finished there though. On came more fresh legs in rookie Shaw, and when fellow sub Whittaker fed him with a sweet ball, the teenager finished like a veteran.
Considering the timidity of the first half, the second was end-toend, no-quarter stuff. In the end, Celtic still had too much and Dembele polished things off, taking Rogic’s feed and firing a composed side-foot past Laidlaw for the Frenchman’s coup de grace.