Celtic had to work much harder than expected to avoid a shock Scottish Cup exit, eventually beating sixth-tier Auchinleck Talbot 2-0 to set up a last-16 tie with Dundee.
Despite making 10 changes, interim boss Martin O’Neill still named a strong Celtic side. However, the Premiership team struggled to break down Talbot and were far from convincing. Johnny Kenny opened the scoring after more than 30 minutes, but Celtic wasted several clear chances both before and after the goal.
Kenny missed early on, hit the crossbar in the second half and later had another goal ruled out for offside. Talbot almost levelled when Celtic goalkeeper Viljami Sinisalo mishandled a punch, but the ball narrowly avoided Connor Boyd.
Celtic finally sealed the win late on when substitute Sebastian Tounekti curled in a fine shot three minutes from time. While Celtic achieved their main aim of reaching the last 16, the performance left fans and O’Neill frustrated rather than encouraged.
