My team is starting to gel, insists Tony Mowbray

The Republic of Ireland internationalist was sent on after half-time, and scored his first goal for the club in a 4-2 victory. It helped manager Tony Mowbray out of a hole and vindicated his decision to rest the on-loan striker. He will, however, start in midweek at Celtic Park, Mowbray revealed. Celtic cannot afford any more slip-ups as they attempt to begin eroding Rangers' ten point lead at the top of the Scottish Premier League.

"I spoke to Robbie in the week and he was very comfortable with that (being substitute]," said Mowbray, who saw Keane complete the scoring for Celtic from the penalty spot.

"Three 90 minutes in seven days for a boy who has not played consistently is asking for trouble injury-wise. And he agreed. He was happy to play just 45 minutes and we decided between us that it was probably better to play the second 45 rather than the first 45.

"He was always going to be starting on Wednesday night," added Mowbray. "Hopefully our supporters will come out in numbers and support the team. You saw some flashes of magic (from Keane] today, leaving people sitting on their backsides on the edge of the 18-yard box, and he can take a penalty. Hopefully the extra intensity in the stadium will lift the group (on Wednesday]."

It is probably going too far to describe Mowbray as a relieved man yesterday. His team dominated after the interval following a fright in the first-half, when they trailed 2-1. But an equaliser just before the break from Morten Rasmussen meant they got to the interval on level terms.

Dunfermline were further dispirited by the sight of Keane's arrival as substitute. Callum Woods, whose appearance when suspended in the last round for Dunfermline against Stenhousemuir was one reason why the club had initially been thrown out of the competition, saw the spotlight again fall on him when he put through his own net on the hour mark.

Rasmussen, however, sought to save his blushes by doing what every good centre-forward does, and claimed to have got his boot to the ball. "I was going after the ball, and got a little touch so I got the goal – that's two today," said the Dane, who also scored the equaliser for his side in the first-half.

Mowbray conceded there are some aspects of his side's play that still need to be worked on. But he is confident that his vision of how Celtic should play is being realised. "We are trying to build a team to give us long-term success, but I understand we have to get short term success too," he said. "But the signs are OK. The team is coming together."

Dunfermline player-manager Jim McIntyre rued his side's failure to make it to half-time in front. Andy Kirk converted a penalty to give his side a 2-1 lead after 25 minutes. But it was perhaps too early in the half to expect the hosts to hold on. Celtic levelled three minutes before the interval, and their class told in the second-half.

"After we scored to go 2-1 ahead we sat too deep and Celtic controlled the game again," McIntyre said.

"We could have been a bit braver on the ball – but that's nit-picking. We cut Celtic open at times, more so in the first-half."

He looked on with envy as Celtic turned to a substitute of Keane's ability in the second-half. "You can see his quality when he came on – his movement was fantastic," said McIntyre. "He gave us problems when he was dropping into the hole and linking play."