Celtic eased into the fifth round of the Scottish Cup with minimum fuss as a stunning first half strike from Scott Sinclair and second half goals from Moussa Dembele and Stuart Armstrong saw off dogged Albion.
The League One side were always going to be up against it against the runaway Premiership leaders. But Darren Young’s men simply couldn’t get the ball off the Hoops who controlled the game from start to finish.
Kieran Tierney made a welcome return for Celtic after three months out with an ankle injury. And he took his place in a backline that also featured fringe players Dedryck Boyata and Cristian Gamboa.
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Rodgers took no chances up top naming Moussa Dembele and Sinclair.
And it was the latter who opened the scoring in stunning style on the half hour mark. After being played in by Tierney the Englishman looked up from the left hand corner of the 18 yard box and sent a high curling shot over Ross Stewart in the Albion goal and dipping in off the far post.
(Photo: SNS Group)
Celtic continued to control proceedings after the break but a combination of dogged defending and poor finishing meant they had to wait until the 75th minute to extend their lead.
Sub Patrick Roberts raced into the box and fed the ball wide to skipper Scott Sinclair whose cut back found Dembele lurking right in the centre of the six yard box.
Armstrong then got on the end of a Roberts cut back to complete the scoring with just seconds left.
THREE THINGS WE LEARNED:
1. Not a vintage show from Celtic by any means but they were always in command and got the job done with the minimum of fuss while blowing off any winter break rustiness.
2. Albion Rovers were the very definition of dogged. They hounded and harried for all they were worth and couldn’t have done much more than they did.
3. The return of Kieran Tierney is massive for Celtic and the kid was immediately back to his best, driving at defenders and linking well with Sinclair.