Brendan Rodgers was pleased to see his side book their place in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup, although the Celtic manager acknowledged that his team didn’t produce their best performance in beating Livingston 4-2.

Daizen Maeda hit a hat-trick, while Kyogo scored a fourth goal in added time as the manager continued his impressive record of having never lost a Scottish Cup tie.

Speaking after the game, the Hoops boss said: “It was nowhere near the level of performance that we would want, but you have to give a big credit to Livingston.

'They worked ever so hard and scored very good goals, and the 4-2 scoreline looks more comfortable than it actually was.'

“So we’re in the next round, which is where we wanted to be, but with injuries and guys coming in and having not played, I thought it wasn’t as cohesive as what I would want, but we got the job done in the end.”

Daizen Maeda scored twice in the first-half, only for Livingston to twice peg Celtic back, but late in the game, Maeda netted a well-deserved hat-trick which also saw him pick up the Man of the Match Award.

And the manager also acknowledged James Forrest’s contribution when he came in the second-half for his first appearance since December 23 – also against Livingston at Celtic Park.

“It’s brilliant from Daizen to get the hat-trick,” said Brendan Rodgers. “His movement, his runs, his desire to get in has got him his goals. So I’m delighted for him.

“I was probably at my happiest when James came on because I saw genuine quality in the game – touch, control, body work, everything. He’s a big talent so I was really happy when James came in.

'Everything we really created was probably mostly down that right side and the left side finished it off, but James was excellent when he came on.'

“We had to dig it out today but the guys have got us there, which is important.

“Now we can see who we can draw in the semi-final and hopefully we’ll have a few of those players back that will up the level of our performance.”

Manager: We had to dig it out today to reach semi-final