Celtic ease into last eight of Scottish Cup with win against 10-man St Mirren

By Ronnie Esplin, PA

Celtic stormed into the Scottish Cup quarter-finals with a 5-1 win over St Mirren after a late flurry of goals at Parkhead.

Tireless forward Daizen Maeda opened the scoring from close range in the 16th minute but the visitors, the only domestic side to beat Celtic this season, showed some spirit and ambition.

However, substitute Reo Hatate netted from the penalty spot in the 76th minute after Buddies defender Richard Taylor was sent off by referee Steven McLean for conceding the VAR-confirmed spot-kick with a hand to prevent a certain goal.

Fellow sub Oh Hyeon-gyu slammed in his first Celtic goal in the 80th minute before Stephen Robinson’s side reduced the deficit with a Mark O’Hara penalty.

Ange Postecoglou’s side, as always, kept going and substitute Matt O’Riley fired in from the edge of the box before Hatate added a fifth with a similarly impressive strike in added time.

The treble-chasing home side, with midfielder David Turnbull in for Hatate, made their usual swift start.

There were only a couple of minutes played before Saints, who had Taylor and Declan Gallagher back for Charles Dunne and Greg Kiltie, had Trevor Carson to thank for the first time.

The Buddies keeper parried a powerful drive from Portuguese winger Jota past the post for a corner which failed to trouble the visitors.

The Paisley side tried to push forward but trouble was never far away and in the 11th minute Maeda shanked a cross only to see it rebound off Carson’s far post.

Fellow Japanese forward Kyogo Furuhashi went off with what looked like a shoulder injury to be replaced by winger Liel Abada with Maeda moving through the middle.

Moments later he was in the right place to convert Aaron Mooy’s cross for the opener, after the Australia international had been sent down the wing by Abada.

Far from collapsing, the Buddies fought back and Hoops defender Cameron Carter-Vickers headed away a shot from Alex Greive, who subsequently sustained an injury and was replaced by former Celt Tony Watt, recently signed from Dundee United.

St Mirren striker Curtis Main was proving a handful for the Hoops defence but it was his defensive block which prevented Celtic defender Carl Starfelt from firing in a second just before the break.

Robinson’s side came out for the second half in positive fashion again but enjoyed some luck when a cutback from right-back Alistair Johnston struck Buddies defender Marcus Fraser and rebounded off a post.

Postecoglou made a triple substitution around the hour mark with Hatate, O’Riley and Oh coming on for Turnbull, Mooy and Jota.

Still St Mirren kept pushing forward in numbers but still they were unable to really test goalkeeper Joe Hart.

There was a long VAR check in the 71st minute after Abada’s close-range shot came off Taylor.

Referee McLean looked at his monitor and pointed to the spot to a huge cheer from the home fans before he sent off Taylor for using a hand and Hatate stepped up and slammed the ball into the corner of the net.

There were more cheers when Oh grabbed a third with a low drive after Carson had parried a long-distance effort from skipper Callum McGregor.

Saints pulled a goal back from the spot moments later after Starfelt had tripped substitute Kiltie, with captain O’Hara beating Hart from 12 yards.

But Celtic responded with late strikes from O’Riley and Hatate to add gloss to the scoreline.