Celtic vs St Mirren. Scottish Cup Quarter Final.
Celtic ParkAttendance27,455.
Sunday 5 March 2017 22:18, UK
Celtic produced a stunning second-half comeback to beat St Mirren 4-1 and make the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup on Sunday.
It was a lacklustre first-half display from the Hoops, with St Mirren going ahead in the 13th minute after Harry Davis poked home from close range.
But some inspired second-half substitutions from Brendan Rodgers saw Celtic surge into the last four, with Mikael Lusting (58) and Scott Sinclair (59) scoring within one minute to see the hosts ahead.
Moussa Dembele (68) and Leigh Griffiths (77) rounded off the scoring to extend the Hoops' unbeaten domestic record to 34 games and see them into the semi-final draw.
Both sides named unchanged sides from their midweek fixtures for the Celtic Park match-up and it was St Mirren who took a surprise early lead after a clever piece of free-kick play. Stephen Mallan played it short to Cammy Smith on the left wing, whose bullet cross met the head of John Sutton, nodding the ball into the path of Davis who slotted home from four yards.
The visitors restricted Celtic to few chances in the first period, taking until the half hour mark for the Hoops to have a real sight of goal. Gary Mackay-Steven's cross found Dembele in the middle of the box, who flicked the ball back into the path of Scott Brown, with the Celtic skipper taking a few strides before powering his effort past the upright.
It was a similar story ten minutes later as the Hoops' top scorer Dembele also went close after a fantastic cross from Brown on the right of the box took out four St Mirren defenders but the forward could only send his shot skimming past the post.
Celtic made a much-needed change at the break as Patrick Roberts - who notched up two second-half assists - replaced Mackay-Steven, but it was St Mirren who could have doubled their lead inside ten minutes.
Mallan whipped in another free-kick into the box from deep on the left flank, with Dembele getting a toe to it to send it hammering against the underside of the crossbar before landing on the right side of the line for Celtic, while Davis was unable to poke the rebound home.
But Celtic came roaring back into the tie in the 58th minute, with a superb free-kick curled towards goal by Roberts which Lustig just got a touch to at point-blank range to turn the ball home and get the hosts on level terms.
And it took just 60 seconds for the Hoops to take the lead. Another of Rodgers' substitutes in Griffiths was the man to set Sinclair off on a gut-busting run towards goal before slamming home on an angle from the left-hand side of the box.
Sinclair and Roberts were both involved once again as Celtic added another nine minutes later, with the former snatching possession in his own half before powering forward. He passed the ball to Roberts on his left-hand side, who in turn played the ball back to his team-mate. Sinclair then slid the ball to an unmarked Dembele at the back post who made no mistake in slotting home for a third.
Griffiths was not about to be left out of the scoring spree as he made it four in the 77th minute, with Roberts on the right flank picking out the striker at the top of the box, allowing him to ready himself in plenty of space before bobbling an effort past the leaping O'Brien.
There were chances for Celtic to add more as the game drew to a close, with a Dedryck Boyata goal ruled out for a foul in the build-up with five minutes to play before a last-minute Griffiths was flagged for offside after tapping in a rebounded Roberts strike off the post.
It is the third time this season that the Hoops have been behind at half-time in a domestic fixture and scored four goals in the second half to win a game, with the Old Firm derby against Rangers up next on Sunday.
