Celtic sealed a place in the Scottish Cup final thanks to an extra-time demolition as they smashed St Mirren 6-2 at Hampden Park on Sunday afternoon.
Daizen Maeda put Celtic ahead in bizarre circumstances less than a minute into the clash, when St Mirren goalkeeper Ryan Mullen fired his clearance against the Japanese international and saw it trickle over the line. Anthony Ralston blasted home a stunning second deep into first-half stoppage time to double the lad.
St Mirren refused to lie down though, and dragged themselves back into the game on 53 minutes when Mikael Mandron headed home superbly from Declan John’s teasing left-wing cross. With the game edging towards the final minutes, Mandron forced the game into extra-time, firing home with aplomb after latching onto Jake Young’s knock on.
However, the Buddies were blown apart in the first-half of extra time as the goals rained in at the national stadium, with substitute Kelechi Iheanacho bagging a quickfire brace (96, 101), Luke McCowan (98), and Benjamin Nygren (102) sealed a remarkable win for Celtic.
Here’s how The Scotsman rated the performance of each player as Celtic beat St Mirren 6-2 at Hampden:
9. Kieran Tierney (Celtic) - 6
Had some strong runs down the left side, but left Celtic fans frustrated when he opted against shooting when in good positions. | SNS Group
10. Liam Donnelly (St Mirren) - 5
Extremely unlucky with a header in the first half and did well until extra-time hit. | SNS Group
11. Callum McGregor (Celtic) - 5
A poor performance from the skipper, who is usually so impactful in big games at Hampden. | SNS Group
12. Jacob Devaney (St Mirren) - 6
Played well at Celtic Park last week and was again good in possession until his side dropped off in the extra time period. | SNS Group