Celtssurvivelatestinginthe tailtodefeatbravewasps
ALLOA ATHLETIC 1 Sammon (75) CELTIC 2
Giakoumakis (14), Abada (45)
The Premier Sports Cup holders progressed into the last 16 of the Scottish, but it was a nervy victory here in the late kick off.
With St Johnstone, last year’s winners of both trophies dumped out of the competition by Kelty Hearts earlier on, it is a fair bet everyone involved with the Glasgow club would have taken any sort of victory had it been offered them ahead of time.
In practice, going 2-0 up at half time and ending up having to sweat out the last few moments against a team sitting eighth in League One was a little too close for comfort.
Throw in the loss of three players: Callum Mcgregor, Liel Abada and Yosuke Ideguchi, to injury, and it was far from ideal.
Having learned in the morning, he had been called up by Japan for the World Cup qualifiers against China and Saudi Arabia, Daizen Maeda got another chance to build up his match fitness here.
However, it was a more familiar face wearing not the green and white hoops of the visitors, but the gold and black of the Wasps who was the first to catch the eye.
Connor Sammon, ex of Kilmarnock, Hearts, Partick Thistle, Falkirk and Motherwell, tried his luck with an audacious lofted effort from fully 40 yards out to beat Joe Hart in the Celtic goal.
For a second, as Hart scrambled to get back to safety of his goal line, it looked on and the home crowd held its collective breath but the ball sailed over the crossbar.
And with Mouhamed Niang fairly crashing into a tackle on Tom Rogic to dispossess the Australian, it was a lively start overall.
Given warning by their opponents, Celtic took heed and took the heat out of the tie with an early goal.
It was as simple as they come. Liam Scales picked out Giorgos Giakoumakis at the back of the box with a cross from the left and from half a dozen yards out, the Greek lashed the ball into the net for 1-0.
With not even quarter of an hour on the clock, Ange Postecoglou was thrilled – not least, because his striker will have to carry a fair bit of the load in the weeks ahead.
His team were not through yet, though, and Alloa’s response was to carry on as if nothing had happened.
Sammon, 35-years-old but looking sharp on it, was denied by Hart, who blocked his close range effort with his leg.
A clash of heads between Callum Mcgregor and Adam King forced Celtic to switch things around with James Mccarthy replacing the injured Scotland internationalist.
His introduction had an unexpected impact for within seconds the Hoops stretched their lead to two.
It came from the boot of Liel Abada, the winger cutting in from the wing to hit a stunning left foot curler of a shot that Alloa keeper David Hutton had
no chance of getting to.
Alloa manager Barry Ferguson made a tactical change at half time introducing Jon Robertson in place of Craig Howie.
They worked as well with the midfielder supplying the cross from which Sammon headed home Alloa’s goal.
It made for a lively finish, especially as Jota, on for the injured Abada, was clearly in the mood.
He went close with a shot that forced a save from Hutton, Maeda did likewise with a header. When the pair combined, they looked very dangerous.
Yet still they could not finish Alloa off.
The Wasps players snapped into their tackles, closed players down as if their careers depended upon it and took a shot any time the chance presented itself.
It was impressive stuff and if it was not quite enough to produce an equaliser, the delighted applause of the home fans at when the referee blew the final whistle told its own story.