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:
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21. Daizen Maeda (Celtic) - 8
Got Celtic off to a flier with the most comedic of openers. Pressed and harried well on an afternoon where he looked more like himself. | SNS Group

22. Jonah Ayunga (St Mirren) - 6
The quieter of the two frontman, he was outshone by his strike partner Mandron. | SNS Group

23. Celtic subs:
James Forrest - 7 (Had a positive impact on proceedings) Kelechi Iheanacho - 9 (An explosive impact as he bagged two crucial goals) Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - 6 (Tidy) Luke McCowan - 8 (A goal and an assist off the bench in a fabulous cameo) Dane Murray - 6 (Didn't have much to do in extra-time) | SNS Group

24. St Mirren subs:
Grant Tamosevicius - 6 (Thrown in unexpectedly, the 17-year-old did well in the circumstances but will be disappointed to ship so many goals on his senior debut). Jayden Richardson - 5 (Suffered as Celtic ran riot) Jake Young - 7 (Picked up an assist that took the game into extra-time). Roland Idowu - 5 (Little impact) Conor McMenamin - 5 (As above) Scott Tanser - N/A (Late extra-time sub). | SNS Group

