Scottish Cup: Inverness CT 0 - 2 Celtic: No upset for Celts as Brown’s penalty seals win

EXCESSIVE verbiage has lately been devoted to Celtic exploiting the weaknesses of their local rivals to snare silverware this season.

Capitalsing on calamities of Highland rivals explains their wholly comfortable passage into the Scottish Cup quarter-finals in the Highlands yesterday. Neil Lennon called the tie the most difficult they could have been handed outside of a trip to Ibrox. It didn’t pan out that way. They made it easy for themselves by being professional and purposeful. And, to his opposite number Terry Butcher’s despair, Inverness made it easy for them too.

There were just the two toe-curling mistakes in the home side’s defending that allowed Georgios Samaras to help himself to the opening goal 33 minutes in. A corkscrew wind, mixed with freezing, lashing rain, hardly made it straightforward to follow the flight of any ball knocked more than five yards.

However, even that could not excuse Ross Tokeley’s mis-judging of a Kris Commons ball hit down the right that resulted in him helping it into the Greek’s path. He fair lashed an angled effort after cutting inside, but, although his drive swerved, it still seemed to be going towards keeper Jonny Tuffey. Somehow, the Irishman allowed the ball to whizz past his left side when looking to block it to his right.

Celtic’s second goal after 68 minutes demonstrated that they weren’t simply waiting for their opponents to foul-up but hunting them down in the hope they would do so. The once again excellent Gary Hooper earned a penalty after he hit a ball into space when attempting to find Scott Brown on the right-hand byline. Instead of giving up on it, he chased the ball down as David Proctor moved in to take possession. The defender’s hesitation allowed Hooper to nick it from him and as the Inverness man sought to get back at him he bumped the striker to the ground. From the resultant spot-kick, Brown made it two successful conversions in two games and still found time to be elbowed by Richie Foran, the two captains having tussled all day. The contact appeared a case for the SFA compliance officer with Lennon stating he didn’t see the incident.

Despite the outcome, Lennon sported a sullen countenance afterwards and banned the press from speaking to any Celtic players. The punishment was meted out over unhappiness that his comments on Friday about Rangers bringing their financial difficulties on themselves through years of mismanagement had been communicated to Ally McCoist, whose press call was some hours after his own. He was all attitude in front of reporters post-match in the tunnel of the Caledonian Stadium then pointed to the “attitude” of his players in the two hours beforehand as what pleased him most about a victory that takes the club’s treble bid into the last nine weeks of the season.

He delighted in the displays of Adam Matthews, Kelvin Wilson and Samaras, in particular, three of the four changes Lennon made from the starting line-up for last Sunday’s Scottish Communities League Cup semi-final win over Falkirk.

He was narked at the suggestion he had made wholesale changes, snapping that he had only picked the team once they had assessed the pitch shortly before kick-off. But he was more content to respond favourably when told the inclusion of Samaras in place of Anthony Stokes had paid off.

“I thought Sammi’s all-round game was brilliant,” Lennon said. “He really lashed the ball into the top corner for his goal and we have been looking for him to do that for a long time because he is capable of that.”

In Brown, meanwhile, Lennon suddenly appears have a reliable penalty taker, which is no trifling matter for a club who had made a habit of missing from the spot in the past two seasons. “He’s waited a long-time to be the penalty taker and he is doing fantastically well,” the Celtic manager said. “Once he was over the ankle surgery and pain-free we knew he would come to the fore.”

The force of his team at the close against a side who only offered token resistance allows Lennon to be cautiously optimistic over the fact Celtic are where they want to be.

“It was a competitive game but we finished the stronger and it is not often you could have said that about Celtic teams who have come up here in the past,” he said.