In the quarter-finals of the Premier Sports Cup, Celtic clinched a victory against Falkirk by 5-2, largely thanks to two successive goals in the second half from Adam Idah, a striker from Republic of Ireland. This leads to a face-off in the semi-finals against Aberdeen. Despite a half-time lead for Falkirk, following goals from Ross MacIver and Finn Yeats that outpaced Paulo Bernardo’s solid strike for Celtic, substitute Nicholas Kuhn sparked an impressive turnaround.
Coming off the bench an hour in, Kuhn aided Idah in his swift double before scoring twice himself, leaving Falkirk who had previously provided stiff resistance, trailing. Brendan Rodgers and former colleague John McGlynn, who once was part of Rodger’s Celtic Park team, were the managers pitted against one another.
Since his time at Hearts, McGlynn has guided Falkirk through an unbroken 43-match streak in the league, taking them from League One to the Championship’s peak after five consecutive wins this season. His team had earlier defeated Hearts in the preceding round.
In response to Celtic’s triumphant 5-1 result over Slovan Bratislava in the Champions League on Wednesday, Rodgers introduced eight new faces, including debut player Alex Valle and Auston Trusty, ex-Sheffield United centre back playing his first time start. Despite his invaluable assist, Valle was overwhelmed prior to both of Falkirk’s goals.
Injury compelled Alistair Johnston and Cameron Carter-Vickers to sit out, leaving Callum McGregor, Reo Hatate and ex-Falkirk player Kasper Schmeichel as the only remaining players from the original line-up. Despite formidable opposition, Celtic started energetically, with Bernardo setting up an early opportunity for James Forrest, which prompted a close call save from Falkirk’s Nicky Hogarth.
In the 11th minute, MacIver seized control of the game with a forceful shot from 22 yards that outplayed Schmeichel, following Valle’s inadvertently heading Dylan Tait’s slanting pass to his feet, helpless due to a collision with Alfie Agyeman. However, only 10 minutes later, Celtic neutralised the score as Valle rerouted Hatate’s high-arching pass back to Bernardo for a swift volley directly into the net’s peak.
Despite their successful equaliser, the home team couldn’t maintain the momentum. Failed attempts by Yeats and ex-Celtic player, Calvin Miller, paved the way for a second surprising goal for the Bairns at the cusp of half time. Trying to fend off Agyeman, Valle fell flat, enabling Agyeman to pass to Yeats, who executed an exquisite header. Following an extended VAR check for possible offside, the goal was ratified.
In spite of their faltering performance, Celtic’s Manager, Rodgers, persisted with his initial team, though signs of penetrating Falkirk’s disciplined defence were faint. As such, the Celtic Manager introduced Kuhn, Arne Engels, Greg Taylor, and Yang Hyun-jun into the fray, while the Bairns were forced to replace their injured goal scorers.
The outcome started to take shape in the 70th minute when Ralston set Kuhn up on the left wing, enabling him to pass the ball along the six-yard box for Idah to merely touch in for the equaliser. Kuhn regained control of the ball immediately following the kick-off, setting Idah up once more, who skilfully navigated between adversaries to score.
Kuhn then exquisitely finished Engels’ through ball in the 81st minute before hammering home a 22-yard shot only three minutes later. The final insult for Falkirk came in the last moments of the match as Michael McKenna, a substitute, was sent off with a straight red card for an excessively high tackle on Ralston.