Celtic 4 - 1 Raith Rovers: Hooper to the fore in rout, but only 14,737 see it

HOME comforts for Gary Hooper are becoming positively stately. A devastating striking display that brought him four goals, didn’t simply allow the Englishman to single-handedly demolish Raith Rovers’ reveries of a long-odds upset.

Celtic 4 (Hooper 12, 37, 58, 60) Raith Rovers 1 (Walker 28)

It allowed Celtic’s principal plunderer to take his tally at Celtic Park to a remarkable 12 goals in his last eight appearances.

His manager Neil Lennon might perceive last night’s quartet as vindication that he is a better judge of his players’ poise than any others. For in the pre-match conference for the last-16 Scottish Communities League Cup tie, he practically growled when it was put to him that Hooper had endured something of a slow start to the season. If it was in any way slow, last night was when it went it overdrive.

The First Division side had the frightners put on them by Hooper’s jack-in-the-box predatory instincts, his movement matched by the clinical nature of his touch and finishing. He ended last season with a five-goal haul against Hearts and at Celtic Park this season he has already bagged strikes against Helsinki, Helsingborg and, at the weekend, Dundee. It’s just away games that seemed to have passed him by of late.

Predictably, what wasn’t passed over in the build-up to this tie was Raith’s fabled League Cup win over Celtic in 1994. The actual occasion itself last night, or rather the non-occasion as exposed by the meagre attendance, recalled a slightly earlier period, though. To be precise the dog days of the old Celtic board; a regime swept away by Fergus McCann’s takeover also in 1994. Not since the early 1990s, when Celtic Park was an unreconstructed venue, had so small a crowd – 14,737 to be exact – taken in a competitive game in Glasgow’s east end.

Conditions were foul and flat, but that proved in contrast to the manner in which Lennon’s side set about their task. As their manager had promised, Rovers were given the respect of being ranged against a strong home selection. A source of fascination within the personnel picked was a first start for Nigerian Efe Ambrose, which followed on from his substitute appearance in the weekend win over Dundee. Ambrose, signed from Israeli side Akdod last month, was deployed in the midfield holding role ordinarily reserved for Victor Wanyama, who was listed among the substitutes.

Dylan McGeouch and Tony Watt were really the only pimply fringe players given run-outs. McGeouch seemed to relish the opportunity afforded by his first serious involvement since fracturing his jaw in a friendly against Real Madrid six weeks ago. Stationed wide right, he proved one of the key sources of creativity for his side, even on a night when Beram Kayal made his return from injury after a similarly-lengthy period on the sidelines. Combining with James Forest, the 18-year-old ensured Celtic moved the ball around speedily and smartly, those assets central to the production of a goal after only 12 minutes. Raith were left dazed and disorientated by Forest switching the play to send McGeough away down the right, before the youngster drilled a ball into the middle that Hooper deftly worked past keeper David McGurn.

Raith then threatened to be instantly overwhelmed. First McGurn had to develop a telescope arm to block a fierce drive low to his left from McGeough, before the upright spared the Kirkcaldy men when Thomas Rogne beat the keeper with a blooter from inside the box. These reprieves allowed the tie to get a little interesting for ten minutes because, out of nothing, Grant Murray’s men found themselves level in 27 minutes.

Allan Walker deserves credit for working the ball forward with a one-two and then trying his luck. But luck it was that his pop ended up in net, with the ball looping up and over the despairing Lukasz Zaluska after spinning off Kelvin Wilson. The hopes of a noisy visiting support that their team might hold on to this scoreline until the interval were ruthlessly dashed when Ambrose flicked the ball over his head, spun round and brought it down with one touch, and then fed Forrest who swept the ball into the middle for Hooper to dart in front of his marker and slot in.

Hooper-ball-net was becoming a recurring theme. It turned into a recurring nightmare for Raith within two minutes of the second half. The Englishman’s ability to come alive in an around the box, and his deadliness once doing so, was perfectly illustrated with his third of the night that ensued from a McGeouch defence-splitting pass that he ran on to at the edge of the area and, with a swivel and a swish of the boot, he had despatched into the far corner. His fourth was the scrappy, they-all-count side of his striking prowess, the forward on hand to turn the ball in from close range after McGurn had pushed a Kayal

effort across the face of goal.