Scottish Cup
Fifth Round
Sunday, February 9, 2020
Broadwood Stadium, Clyde

CLYDE… 0

CELTIC… 3
(Ntcham 16, Brown 40, Bayo 89)

CELTIC overcame Clyde 3-0 at Broadwood this afternoon (Sunday) in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup. Goals from Olivier Ntcham, Scott Brown and Bayo ensured the holders progressed to the quarter-finals of the competition, when the Hoops will play St Johnstone in Perth at the end of the month.

In blustery conditions, the Hoops sought to pass the ball from the back on the synthetic surface from the outset. Neil Lennon made six changes to the starting XI that triumphed 4-0 at Fir Park in midweek, and in the opening stages of today’s game, Ryan Christie, Mohamed Elyounoussi, Patryk Klimala – the latter of who was handed his first Celtic start – all looked lively.

On 12 minutes, Celtic’s first half-chance of the match came when James Forrest zipped an inviting ball across the six-yard box with no takers. Bolingoli recycled the move from the left in search of Klimala, but the home side scrambled from danger.

Ahead of the quarter-hour mark, Moritz Bauer burst down the right flank to cross for Elyounoussi but again Clyde cleared. One minute later, however, the visitors broke the deadlock when Ntcham, celebrating his 24th birthday, sent a cultured right-foot across the keeper into the net from just inside the penalty area.

While sitting deep with each wave of Celtic’s high press, Clyde did demand cool-headed defending from Kris Ajer and Christopher Jullien with a couple of searching long balls high into the Hoops’ defensive third.

Still, the Scottish champions played the majority of the football on the front foot, with Christie and Forrest forcing a handful of routine saves from Clyde stopper David Mitchell in goal.

On 35 minutes, the latter was unfortunate not to double his side’s lead, when he sent a fine effort just wide of the mark from 20 yards, and, one minute on, Klimala forced another great block from Mitchell at point-blank range.

With five minutes of normal time remaining in the first period, it was the club captain that doubled the champions’ lead. Against the wind, Klimala threw himself at a low in-swinging corner to knock the ball onto Brown, who in turn poked the ball home to make it two.

Celtic returned from the interval to control play once more, as Clyde sat deep. Mitchell was called to action on a handful occasions over the hour, but held firm. As the home side begun to tire, the Hoops enjoyed the lion’s share of possession as they contently shared the ball across the middle in the final third.

As the conditions worsened in the closing quarter, the fluidity of Celtic’s football suffered somewhat, but Jonny Hayes, Marian Shved and Bayo offered new options in attack. The latter carved visitors first real chance of the second half on 83 minutes, when he sent a powerful effort into the side-netting from 10 yards.

On 86 minutes, Bayo again caused trouble in the box when he got the feintest of touches from a cross ball, before Ryan Christie clipped the top of the crossbar with a fine strike from 18 yards on 87.

With one minute of normal time remaining Bayo did get himself on the scoresheet, when the Ivorian converted in front of goal from a Moritz Bauer cut-back.

Overall, it was a routine win for Neil Lennon’s men, who moved confidently into the next round of the tournament – in what is their fourth-successive defence of Scotland’s oldest trophy.

CLYDE: Mitchell, Howie, Livingston, Lang, Rumsby, Grant, Cuddihy (Johnston 86), McStay (Cunningham 69), Goodwillie, Rankin, Lamont (Love 79)
Subs not used: McGhee, McNiff, Johnston, Wylde, Smith

CELTIC: Bain; Bauer, Jullien, Ajer, Bolingoli; Brown, Ntcham, Christie; Forrest (Hayes 71), Klimala (Bayo 76), Elyounoussi (Shved 86)
Subs not used: Forster, Taylor, Griffiths, Soro

Website Man of the Match: Olivier Ntcham

Celts sweep Clyde aside to progress in Scottish Cup