FROM NEIL DOHERTY IN INVERNESS: LET’S face it; Inverness CT are Celtic’s bogey team.
Under former Rangers player Terry Butcher, they’ve had a habit of ruining our hopes on several fronts.
How can we forget that 3-2 defeat last season which essentially handed the title to Ibrox. So the 33 points between the side in the SPL counted for nothing when the Hoops travelled North for the Scottish Cup.
Today however Celtic went to Inverness and won, on a 2-0 scoreline that could have been.
Hoops manager Neil Lennon made several changes when he brought in Adam Matthews, Kelvin Wilson, Georgios Samaras and gave a rare start to Kris Commons, and he maintained the changes were justified.
“I’m trying to keep them as fresh as we can,” said Lennon.
“The guys who came in today were fantastic – allied to the guys who grafting for the last three months.”
A wicked moving strike from Georgios Samaras in the 33rd minute opened the scoring for Celtic, then captain Scott Brown converted from the spot in the second half after David Proctor brought down Gary Hooper as he turned on goal.
Lennon was delighted with the result and admitted his Hoops should have hit a few more.
“It was a great performance – and could have been three or four in the end,” said Lennon. “I thought we were superb.
“I couldn’t be more happy with that performance today.
“We’re learning as we go along, and the players are as well.
“To come here, to a really tricky tie and play as well as that and come through it is fantastic. I can’t pay enough tribute to the supporters as well – they were fantastic.
“In terms of chances created on a sticky pitch, I couldn’t ask for any more – they were two great goals.”
Celtic must now focus again on the SPL, something Lennon agrees with.
“I tell the players to take it one game at a time – it’s the oldest cliche in football,” said Lennon.
“But we have another tough game on Wednesday and they came through this test against Inverness with flying colours.
“We’re in the quarter-final – but there’s another two games to go before we get to the final, so we’re not looking any further than that.”
Hail hail.
