Scottish Cup: Dundee Utd 0-4 Celtic: Brown seals rout as Celtic move into top gear

Dundee United were the better team for much of the first-half of this Scottish Cup quarter-final, but they were forced to play more than half the match a man down after the sending-off of Robbie Neilson for dangerous play, and once Joe Ledley opened the scoring there was no way back for the home team.

While the loss of the right-back obviously posed a major problem for Peter Houston’s team, it would be harsh to say Celtic owed their place in the last four to that incident. They did find full-strength opponents hard to break down, and took some time to hit top gear, but once they were into their stride they were unstoppable.

United were first to threaten, with Jon Daly heading into the side-netting from a Willo Flood cross from the right. Minutes later the striker went down in the box as he attempted to get on the end of a chip, but referee Iain Brines was unimpressed by his half-hearted appeal for a penalty.

Celtic responded to those early signs of danger on their left flank by reshuffling their defence. Victor Wanyama, who had begun the game in midfield, dropped back to partner Thomas Rogne in central defence. Charlie Mulgrew moved out to left-back, with Joe Ledley moving forward from that position to the middle of the park.

The move gave Celtic greater solidity, and from being pinned back on the left they began to mount attacks on that side. One typically-surging run by Georgios Samaras was stopped illegally by Neilson, and the right-back became the first name in the referee’s book.

Having been thwarted on the right, United tried their luck on the other side. Gary Mackay-Steven left Adam Matthews for dead, and his low cross was taken first time by Johnny Russell. The striker’s shot was goalbound, but Fraser Forster kept it out with an excellent save.

The home team had been just the better side for the first 25 minutes or so, but then came the wholly unnecessary incident which constituted a severe blow to their hopes. Stokes cleared his lines with an overhead kick from the edge of the box, and Samaras and Neilson went up for the ball together, only for the Greek to collapse to the turf after appearing to have been caught by his opponent’s elbow.

The minute Brines reached for his pocket it was clear that Neilson’s game was over, as it seemed he would receive a second yellow card. Instead, he was shown a straight red, and walked off as Samaras lay on the ground receiving treatment.

The dismissal forced Peter Houston into a reshuffle of his own. Garry Kenneth came off the bench and went into central defence, Sean Dillon moved out to right-back, and Mackay-Steven was taken off.

Between then and half-time Kenneth proved his value in the air, clearing several crosses as Celtic tried to make their numerical advantage count. Further upfield, the power of work put in by Russell ensured the visiting side did not have things all their own way. But by half-time the question appeared to be when, not if, the breakthrough would come for Neil Lennon’s team.

It should have come a minute into the second half, when a teasing cross from the left by Mulgrew somehow evaded several of his team-mates before the United defence managed to clear. That was an indication, nonetheless, of the greater urgency Celtic were showing, and they were rewarded for their application a little over five minutes later when Ledley gave them the lead.

Curiously, after all the patience and deliberation they had shown in their build-ups, the goal came in somewhat hectic circumstances. A block by Daly in midfield ricocheted deep into the Celtic half, and Flood momentarily looked like beating Matthews to the ball.

Instead, the full-back passed to Forster, the goalkeeper cleared, and in no time at all the move had swept up to the far left corner. From there, Stokes crossed low into the box, and Ledley was there to shoot home first time.

It could have been two a couple of minutes later when a corner from the left was headed by Kenneth and rebounded off Wanyama towards goal, but David Robertson popped up to clear off the line.

Forced to push forward in search of the equaliser, United were leaving more gaps at the back. A thrust up the right by Hooper came close to punishing them for that adventure, but his pass inside to Samaras was cut out just in time.

At the other end, United’s best chance of the half fell to Milos Lacny, who had come on for Gavin Gunning shortly after the goal, Daly having fallen back into defence. With two defenders closing him down it was by no means a simple opportunity for the substitute, but he should still have put his effort on target. Instead, he miscued, sending the shot wide.

Within a minute, Celtic were two ahead. A free-kick on the left afforded Mulgrew the perfect angle for a dangerous delivery, and his cross was headed home at the back post by Samaras.

United battled bravely thereafter, and the closing stages of the contest would have become more interesting if Russell had scored from a Robertson cross. Instead, he shot over the bar.

Stokes then hit a shot off the bar from a Forrest pass when it looked easier to score. “Sebo! Sebo!” his own supporters taunted him, in ironic reference to the gaffe-prone former Rangers striker.

Paddy McCourt came off the bench for the last ten minutes, and with four minutes to play set up the third after a dribble down the left. His cross back towards midfield found Ledley, who measured a pass into the path of Stokes. Clear through on Dusan Pernis, the Irishman made no mistake, slotting firmly home.

That might have been the end of another impressive afternoon, but we still had time for a penalty, conceded by Dillon for a trip on Samaras on the left edge of the box. Captain Scott Brown stroked it low into the left corner of Pernis’s net, rounding off a second-half which had been as one-sided as the first- half had been even.