Celtic overcame Dundee United 11-10 in a dramatic sudden death penalty shoot-out to reach the Co-operative Insurance Cup final.
McDonald spot on for Strachan's men after shoot-out drama
Celtic overcame Dundee United 11-10 in a dramatic sudden death penalty shoot-out to reach the Co-operative Insurance Cup after the game ended 0-0.
Scott McDonald scored his second penalty of the shoot-out to set up a meeting with Old Firm rivals Rangers after Celtic target Willo Flood saw his penalty come off the crossbar.
Both sides cancelled each other out in the 90 minutes as chances were few and far between.
Celtic almost got off to a flying start when Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink saw his shot pushed out by Lukasz Zaluska in the opening two minutes.
Flood, who has been strongly linked with a move to Celtic, came close to scoring for United a minute later when he burst through past two Celtic defenders and fired in a shot which Artur Boruc turned round his post.
United dominated the early proceedings of the second half, but could not find a way past the Celtic defence.
Neither side could find the crucial goal forcing the game into extra-time.
Celtic came close to winning the game in the closing stages of extra-time when they hit the woodwork twice in the space of two minutes.
Marc Crosas saw his cross-cum-shot come back off the crossbar and Georgios Samaras headed Barry Robson's cross against the underside of the crossbar.
The game went into a dreaded penalty shoot-out and both sides showed unerring accuracy from the spot to see players being forced to take two penalties after it went 10-10.
Flood, who scored his first penalty, saw his effort clip the crossbar giving McDonald the chance to send Celtic through and the Australian kept his cool to send Zaluska the wrong way from the spot.
