Kai Watson: The Scottish League Cup Semi-Finalists Are Set!
After Celtic travelled to Ibrox on Sunday the draw was made for the League Cup Semi-Finals but who was in the draw and how did they get there?
Last Friday evening the first fixture of the Quarter-Finals took place as Hearts travelled to Stenhousemuir to take on Marvin Bartley’s high-flying side.
Hearts were aggressive from the very beginning and Guendouz came close to opening the scoring after just ten seconds! Stenny had a decent chance from a long throw-in via Scott Bright which found Kinlay Bilham inside the box but he couldn’t keep his effort down.
It took 35 minutes for Hearts to open the scoring, the ball was bouncing around the box until it fell to JJ Williams who smashed it home on his first start for the Jam Tarts.
Just three minutes later Guendouz picked up the ball and played through Rogers Mato who showed blistering pace and good composure to make it 2-0.
The game was sealed on the 73rd minute after a cross was knocked back across by Williams for Dhanda to volley home on his first Hearts appearance in just over 12 months (seconds against Inverness aside).
A comfortable and expected win for Wouter Vrancken’s side.
Next up was their rivals Hibs as they headed to Dingwall on Saturday to face high-flying Ross County.
It only took six minutes for Hibs to take the lead as Thibault Klidje headed in Felix Passlack’s cross.
A penalty was given in the 15th minute and Adam Mayor smashed it into the top corner then the victory was sealed in the 38th minute when a Wright effort fell into the path of Suto who slid the ball into the back of the net.
Another easy victory for an Edinburgh side against lower league opposition.
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The less said about the late kick off between Kilmarnock and Aberdeen the better - two sides struggling for form and the match was bereft of quality.
Happe’s red card actually seemed to make Aberdeen play better which would have massively frustrated Neil McCann.
The Dons had previously taken the lead through a decent header from Nisbet via a Ronan cross then from the resulting free kick from the red card John-Jules glanced in a lovely Kiltie cross.
The game went to penalties and despite Aberdeen missing their first penalty and Killie scoring theirs, the home side would miss their next three with Aberdeen scoring their next three.
The quality of Killie’s penalties really summed up the game but Stephen Robinson will be delighted with getting through to the Semi’s!
The big one was on Sunday as Celtic travelled to Ibrox in a game that they were favorites for.
However, from the first minutes you could tell Rangers were really up for it and early mistakes from Sam Johnstone set the tone for Celtic’s nervousness.
Rangers went direct and the visitors just couldn’t handle that as Naderi outmuscled Carter-Vickers then played it to Kelsy who found Dan Neil on the edge of the box and he slotted home into the bottom corner, a brilliant strike to open the scoring.
The second goal came from a Penrice cross which was flicked into the path of Kelsy who volleyed home at the near post on his left foot for his first Rangers goal.
He would have been delighted as he also missed a sitter early on.
Rangers had a goal disallowed in the 62nd minute for offside but ten minutes later Dan Neil doubled his goal tally, scoring the first brace of his career.
A Penrice cross was headed out by Scales to the edge of the box, right into Neil’s path and he found the top corner with a brilliantly curled effort.
Rangers fully deserved the victory and Celtic just had no answers for their rivals.
The Semi-Final draw was as follows;
Hearts vs Hibs
Aberdeen vs Rangers
Two cracking looking ties but who is your favourite to go on and win the League Cup now?
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