Scottish Cup: Dunfermline & Celtic Reach Final
The incredibly exciting Scottish Premiership title race took a back seat this weekend as the Scottish Cup took the spotlight. We are now at the Semi-Final stage with everything to play for, for the four participants.
First up in the national stadium was Dunfermline vs Falkirk as Neil Lennon took on John McGlynn in a battle between two bitter rivals. In what was a tense affair, the first real chance came in the 28th minute when a good Leon McCann cross found Barney Stewart who found himself in space within the box but his header into the ground was tame and easy for Ashton Oxborough to deal with.
The quality in the final third was massively lacking and the next time either side really came close was Ben Broggio’s curling effort which went just wide in the 72nd minute. Unsurprisingly it finished 0-0 in 90 minutes and went to extra-time.
The best chance of the game fell to Dunfermline when Oakley-Boothe was played in on the right and squared it across to Lucas Fyfe but, under pressure, the 17-year-old could only smash his shot off of the underside of the bar.
What a fairytale ending that would have been.
Oxborough made a smart save from a deflected Ethan Ross shot but the deadlock still couldn’t be broken and it went to penalties.
Here’s how they went;
Spencer (F) - Miss (0-0)
Cooper (D) - Scored (1-0)
Henderson (F) - Miss (1-0)
Gilmour (D) - Scored (2-0)
Parkinson (F) - Scored (2-1)
Hamilton (D) - Scored (3-1)
Lissah (F) - Scored (3-2)
Oakley-Boothe (D) - Scored (4-2) WINNER!
The quality of penalty was actually really poor and a parallel for the poor quality throughout but Dunfermline and Neil Lennon pulled off the upset!
Onto Sunday and for a much more enthralling and entertaining match up. It took just over a minute for Celtic to take the lead as Mullen took too long on the ball and Maeda slid in to deflect the ball into the net. Engels then hit the post with a brilliant curled effort in the 8th minute and not long after Mullen was subbed off due to injury for 17-year-old, third choice ‘keeper Grant Tamosevicius.
The youngster made a smart save from Maeda before Sinisalo made a couple of brilliant saves, first from a Donnelly header from a corner then his clearance hit off Phillips and bounced over his head but he scooped the ball away just before it got to the line.
It looked like it would be 1-0 at half-time but just before the whistle Yang backheeled the ball to Ralston who crashed a brilliant strike off of the underside of the bar and into the side of the net, 2-0 and it looked like game over at the break.
The truth is, Celtic didn’t turn up in the second half and in the 52nd minute, Mandron headed John’s cross back across goal leaving Sinisalo with little chance. St. Mirren controlled the second half and were aggressive and intense in their hunt for an equalisier.
It finally came just as the clock ticked over the 90 minute mark, Young knocked a brilliant ball over the Celtic defence which Mandron latched on to and smashed the ball into the far corner, another terrific finish and into extra-time it went!
St. Mirren had all the momentum but I don’t think anyone could have predicted how extra-time would play out.
Five minutes after the restart Forrest was direct on the wing and drove towards the byline before dinking a cross over, St. Mirren’s young goalkeeper went to come for it but ended up in no man's land and Iheanacho nodded it into an empty net
Just over a minute later, it was 4-2, a Forrest switch of play was intercepted by McMenamin but all he could do was deflect it into McCowan’s path and he calmly slotted it home. Nine minutes into extra-time it was 5-2, the ball was worked into Iheanacho who made himself a yard of space and, with no backlift, curled an effort into the near post, a top finish from the Nigerian.
The scoring was complete in the 102nd minute after a slack pass allowed Maeda to go through on the left and he found Nygren in the box who tucked it away easily. In just six extra-time minutes, the game went from 2-2 to 6-2, truly devastating attacking play from Celtic, where was that in regular time?!
The second half performance will be cause for concern going into the split for Celtic fans but it will quickly be forgotten if they eventually win the Scottish Cup.
The final looks like a tasty one, a potential massive upset on the cards and Neil Lennon facing the team he won so many trophies for, I can’t wait!
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