Scottish Cup
Third Round
Saturday April 3, 2021
Celtic Park, Glasgow

CELTIC…3
(Forrest 56, Christie 58, Elyounoussi 79)

FALKIRK…0

Celtic booked their place in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup with a dominant 3-0 win over Falkirk at Paradise. John Kennedy’s side completely controlled the game from start to finish and were unfortunate not to have scored more goals with the chances they created.

James Forrest opened the scoring early in the second half in his first start in almost seven months. Ryan Christie quickly followed up to double Celtic’s lead and Mohamed Elyounoussi rounded off the scoring with a lovely finish 10 minutes from the end.

Celtic wasted no time in taking control of the game as they immediately set about the visitors. The early chances for Celtic came from the wide areas with Tom Rogic providing the first chance in front of goal for Laxalt who headed wide with a glancing header.

Rogic had a go himself shortly afterwards with a long-range shot but he couldn’t keep his attempt down.

There was no let-up for Falkirk. Celtic looked hungry and continued to create openings in the opposition defence. Turnbull forced a good save from the keeper with his drilled left-footed effort across goal that was palmed around the post.

Griffiths passed up a wonderful chance 11 minutes into the game when a well-worked Celtic corner ended with Turnbull teeing up the Celtic striker however Griffiths’s dragged his side-footed shot from the edge of the six-yard box wide of the post.

Christie looked determined to open the scoring as he tried to beat Robbie Mutch from distance with a slew of powerful shots that were narrowly off target.

Falkirk were unable to get out of their own half throughout the first half and barely had a sniff of possession. Celtic looked certain to score with the number of chances they were creating but Rogic, Christie and Griffiths all saw their efforts blocked in quick succession.

Forrest was a key figure in much of Celtic’s attacking play and he almost set up Griffiths in the 36th minute when he breezed past his man and drilled an inviting cross in from the right which Griffiths failed to connect with.

Turnbull came close from a set-piece and Ajer fired wide after a galloping run through the Falkirk defence but John Kennedy’s side were unable to establish a lead before the break.

Celtic picked up from where they left off in the first half as they controlled possession and had Falkirk pinned inside their own box. The inevitable goal eventually came in the 56^th minute when Forrest cut in from the left and fired off a shot across goal. His attempt was on target but it was helped by a deflection on its way in.

The second came just two minutes later through Christie who caught the keeper out with a well-placed left-footed shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the area.

Forrest was unfortunate not to score a second in the 66th minute after Turnbull’s saved effort fell to him inside the box but he dragged his shot wide from close range.

Mohamed Elyounoussi replaced Forrest with 15 minutes remaining and the Norwegian helped paint a clearer picture of Celtic’s dominance with a third goal five minutes after his introduction. He ran on to a Jonjoe Kenny cross and teed himself up well with a good first touch before chipping the ball over the outrushing keeper.

Ajeti was close to increasing the lead with a good run that Turnbull picked out with a fine pass but the Swiss striker dragged his effort wide of the far post.

Brown nearly made it four in the dying minutes thanks to a neat piece of link-up play with Elyounoussi but the keeper pulled off an excellent save to deny the Hoops skipper.

CELTIC: Bain; Brown, Griffiths, Turnbull, Kenny, Christie, Rogic, Ajer, Forrest, Welsh, Laxalt
Subs: Barkas, Taylor, Duffy, Ajeti, Soro, Edouard, Elyounoussi, McGregor, Ralston

FALKIRK: Mutch, Mercer, Neilson, Deveney, McClelland, G Miller Leitch, Fotheringham, Dowds, Francis, Sammon.
Subs: Cantley, Dixon, Hall, Alston, Keena, Gomis, Laverty, Telfer, L Miller.

Website Man of the Match: James Forrest

Celtic stroll past Falkirk to book their place in the next round of the Scottish Cup