Celtic move into Scottish Cup semi-finals after strikes from Forrest & Brown
- Published
Forrest and Brown double take Celtic to Scottish Cup semi finals
Stunning second-half strikes from James Forrest and Scott Brown ensured Neil Lennon enjoyed his return to Easter Road as holders Celtic progressed to the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup.
The new Celtic boss left Hibs just four weeks ago and inflicted his successor Paul Heckingbottom's first defeat.
Forrest smashed in the opener just after a glass bottle was thrown in the direction of Celtic's Scott Sinclair.
Brown then doubled the visitors' lead with an equally venomous effort.
The league leaders stretched their winning run in cup competitions to 25 games and remain on course for a third successive clean sweep of trophies following a comfortable evening against surprisingly passive opponents.
There was no sign of the hosts being fired up against their former manager. Hibs worked hard, with Stephane Omeonga a blur of industry in midfield, but failed to pose any menace in attack.
Celtic turn up the heat in second half
The game certainly did not match the hype surrounding Lennon's swift return but the goals were special.
There was an early scare for Hibs when Vykintas Slivka gave the ball away in the middle of the park and a quick pass released Oliver Burke, who fired in a fierce shot on the angle that Ofir Marciano did well to push away.
The ball broke towards Sinclair inside the six yard box but defender Paul Hanlon got the first touch and the ball cannoned off the visiting forward and rolled just wide.
A daisy-cutter from Marc McNulty was easily gathered by Scott Bain and that was about it for the Celtic goalkeeper, with the crossing from home full-backs David Gray and Lewis Stevenson particularly disappointing.
Odsonne Edouard looked certain to score after driving into the box following a good surge from Brown but scuffed the turf when met by the advancing Marciano and a follow-up shot from Forrest was blocked by Mark Milligan.
Marciano impressed again when he came flying off his line to punch clear as Edouard stretched to meet a fabulous curling delivery from Kieran Tierney.
The visitors upped the tempo after the break, with Hibs remaining reluctant to commit men forward, and Forrest, playing in advanced central role, made the breakthrough in spectacular fashion.
Milligan, who was replaced moments later, looked spent and Forrest danced past the ailing Australian then touched the ball beyond Slivka before hammering the sweetest of strikes high into the net from 20 yards.
In the minutes leading to the opening goal, a glass bottle thrown from the East Stand landed close to Sinclair, missing the winger by a few feet.
Celtic were in complete control against a Hibs side who had won three out of three under Heckingbottom and a second goal underlined the champions' superiority.
A sliding Hanlon tackle stopped Edouard in his tracks but the striker recovered to roll in Brown and the Celtic captain skipped past a lazy challenge from Slivka to smash the ball home from 15 yards.
Scott Brown and James Forrest are Celtic greats
Work to be done for Lennon - analysis
BBC Scotland's Brian McLauchlin at Easter Road
After Neil Lennon received a warm if slightly muted welcome from the home support, the game was played in a highly charged atmosphere.
The action on the pitch was fairly tame and the fact it took two wonder strikes to win it and there was only one other shot on target is evidence enough that there is plenty of work to be done if the interim manager is to lead Celtic to another treble. However, back-to-back victories in Edinburgh is a solid start to his second spell in charge.
Hibs lacked firepower and although striker Flo Kamberi put in a shift to try and get one over on his old boss the home team rarely threatened. Next up for Paul Heckingbottom is a visit from Rangers on Friday. A similarly lacklustre performance may bring about a similar outcome.
Neil Lennon was full of praise for his side's second-half showing