TICKING ALL THE BOXES
Bhoys breeze it at a blustery Broadwood to rip the belief away from brave Bully Wee
CELTIC are now ticking off assignments such as this so routinely that there’s a growing danger of all due credit being lost in the process.
If comfortably defeating the side presently languishing eighth in League One was only what was ever expected of Neil Lennon’s men, there truly is no superlative worthy of a run of successive wins in domestic cup competitions which now stands at 33.
On the wrong side of a massive upset the last time these sides met in 2006, doesn’t the current Celtic manager know just how precarious such days can be?
With 80-miles-per-hour-winds at times making conditions at Broadwood utterly farcical, this had many of the ingredients needed to cook up another upset.
Although Celtic were not exactly sparkling, they were more than good enough to ensure their progression to a quarter-final meeting with St Johnstone.
The fact that their stranglehold on the competition continued while Callum McGregor and Odsonne Edouard were granted the weekend off will also have pleased their manager no end.
Olivier Ntcham and Scott Brown put the Bully Wee to the sword before the break, with Vakoun Bayo adding a late third.
Danny Lennon’s Clyde were game and gallant throughout but devoid of the belief and quality their class of 14 years ago displayed as they famously eliminated Gordon Strachan’s Celtic side from the competition.
Storm Ciara certainly did its utmost to act as a leveller. On a day where ten-yard passes were blown dramatically off course and corner flags were bent horizontal, anything seemed possible. It may take more than that, though, for Celtic’s quest for a fourth straight Scottish Cup to be blown off course.
Patryk Klimala was handed his first start by Lennon, with Mohamed Elyounoussi making his first appearance of the year. Although Scott Bain started ahead of Fraser Forster, this was still a strong side.
You’d need to have spent the past week living in a bunker to have been unaware of the current Clyde side’s connections to Celtic. The spine of their team had Chris McStay and Raymond Grant, sons of Paul and Peter, respectively, in Danny Lennon’s side.
While a repeat of the 2006 shock against Roy Keane et al never looked on the cards, the Bully Wee will take some consolation that they remained competitive to the end.
Scott Rumsby’s clattering of Klimala in two minutes suggested that if they were going down, they were going down fighting.
With the wind playing havoc, a degree of error had to be forgiven. Christopher Jullien’s pass to Moritz Bauer which went straight out the park was a case in point.
Clyde did have their moments of hope before Celtic took the game beyond them. Mark Lamont sensibly took the option of shooting on sight from 25 yards with his shot deflected just wide.
Generally, though, the traffic was towards the goal tended by David Mitchell. With Celtic beginning to settle, Brown found Ntcham. The Frenchman’s powerful shot was deflected and had no sting by the time it reached the keeper’s arms.
Mitchell then did well to grasp Elyounoussi’s effort after he met Bauer’s cross. Clyde’s resistance lasted precisely 16 minutes. Boli Bolingoli, selected ahead of Greg Taylor at left-back, picked out Ntcham in a seemingly unthreatening position on the left.
Taking heed of the conditions, Ntcham took a couple of touches then let fly. The ball moved one way then the other, deceiving the helpless Mitchell and finding the far corner. It already felt like a question of how many Celtic would win by.
Ryan Christie spurned a decent chance for a quick second, hitting the wall with a free-kick after John Rankin had flattened Klimala.
Clyde did all they could to prevent Celtic getting into their stride. They nipped and niggled at ankles, launched themselves into tackles, doubled, even trebled up, when required.
But although the gusts sweeping across Broadwood certainly helped them in that respect, they also prevented them getting the ball down and passing to any great effect. David Goodwillie seemed to be in a different postcode at times.
Slackness by Bolingoli did hand Clyde one unwarranted chance to level. But McStay’s shot was deflected and didn’t make it as far as Bain.
Christie looked in the mood here. He had a snap effort saved and then, having taken a short corner from James Forrest, made an angle for a smashed shot that had the beating of Mitchell but drifted just wide at the last.
The tie ought to have been over eight minutes from the break.
Ntcham’s long ball out was gathered by Forrest, who then released Klimala. The Pole took a steady first touch then tried to chip the keeper, only for Mitchell to throw up a hand to block.
But Clyde just couldn’t get to the break without further damage.
On 40 minutes, Christie’s corner from the left was nudged on by Klimala. Brown held off Barry Cuddihy and prodded the ball over the line at the near post.
Mitchell’s afternoon was every bit as busy as he would have expected. He did well to field Christie’s swerving effort shortly after the turnaround then plucked Klimala’s attempted dink from the air.
The second half was a more pedestrian affair. In Edouard’s absence, Christie fancied his chances from a free-kick but he failed to hit the target with a set-piece that was dead centre.
Jonny Hayes replaced Forrest, with Bayo relieving Klimala as Celtic moved into cruise control.
Goodwillie should at least have worked Bain when presented with a look at goal 20 yards out but his weak effort left the keeper untroubled.
Bayo did have one decent chance on the counter to make it three but, having done the hard part, scuffed his shot.
It seemed the Ivorian would not reflect on his cameo role with much fondness. Sent clear by Christie, he dumped a shot in the side netting when it seemed easier to score.
Christie struck the top of the bar with a floated effort after being played in by Brown before Bayo finally had a moment to savour.
Bauer was the provider with a burst to the line and a cut-back. This time, Bayo literally could not miss — and he didn’t.