Celtic shook off their defeat at Tynecastle by defeating Livingston 4-2 yesterday to reach the semi-final stage of the Scottish Cup.
Daizen Maeda had the hosts ahead early, latching on to an excellent ball from Nicolas Kuhn to calmly volley past former Hoops goalkeeper Michael McGovern.
Despite all signs pointing to a comfortable day at the office for Brendan Rodgers, Livingston responded through Daniel MacKay, who evaded the Bhoys’ rearguard before smashing past Joe Hart to level the scoring.
In what became a familiar theme, Maeda got himself on the scoresheet for a second time by stooping low to head past McGovern in the wake of the Northern Ireland international parrying a Matt O’Riley shot.
Nevertheless, David Martindale’s outfit refused to fold and found parity early in the second half thanks to an excellent finish from Tete Yengi.
Both sides had chances to settle the affair, though Celtic weren’t going to be denied a deserved passage to Hampden, as Maeda was the beneficiary of Tomoki Iwata forcing the issue to complete his hat-trick.
His compatriot Kyogo Furuhashi put the result beyond doubt in stoppage time, taking advantage of a smart flick from James Forrest to slot home with aplomb.
There was an element of uncertainty surrounding the Hoops’ defensive display; regardless, Rodgers’ men did more than enough to merit a place in the hat for the Scottish Cup semi-final draw.
Mark Wilson believes Nicolas Kuhn shone for Celtic yesterday
Optimism greeted the £3 million arrival of Kuhn from Rapid Vienna in January; nevertheless, he has struggled to set the heather alight since pitching up at Parkhead, registering one goal in his opening seven appearances [Transfermarkt].
On a separate token, the 24-year-old showed up against Livingston, offering directness to the Celtic forward line and an ability to drive at his marker, something which Mark Wilson believes Kuhn can take ‘great confidence’ from moving forward.
Wilson explained when asked by Gordon Duncan if Kuhn could’ve kickstarted his Celtic career after his performance against Livingston [Clyde 1 Superscoreboard]: “You would like to think so, players all go on confidence. It doesn’t matter where you’ve been brought in from, whether you’ve been brought in from the youth academy or you’ve been brought in for £4 million.
“You thrive off confidence. There’s no doubt that Kuhn looks like he’s took a wee bit of time to get going. A lot of people have written him off; I wasn’t convinced by him.
“On today’s performance, he looks a player. In those 70 minutes, he looks like a player within that, and he’ll take great confidence from that.
“Wingers and front players especially, maybe rely on it a wee bit more (confidence). Today he had the beating of Montano every time he got the ball. He can be happy with his day’s work, he got a great ovation when he went off, and you’ve got to say, James Forrest when he came on was lively as well.”
Nicolas Kuhn has finally landed at Celtic
On his debut against Aberdeen in early February, Kuhn emerged from the bench to score his only goal for Celtic so far, though he hasn’t had any notable moments since then before yesterday.
Sometimes, all it takes is something to click, which seemed to occur yesterday from the outset, as it was very apparent that Kuhn looked like a man keen to prove a point in front of the Parkhead faithful.
The former Ajax man got fans off their seats with his ability to regularly beat Cristian Montano; meanwhile, he also showed his end product to supply Maeda with the opening goal.
Moving forward, the 24-year-old can hopefully build on his excellent display and be given a chance to excel against St Johnstone this weekend.
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