Celtic’s Scottish Cup draw against St Johnstone has resulted in the perfect scenario for the club yet again.
Brendan Rodgers has consistently stated that all he wants from cup draws are home matches. “Anyone at home” is how the Celtic manager often refers to his hopes for cup draws.
Yet again, Celtic have struck lucky at home for the seventh consecutive time in Scotland’s most famous cup. The draw presents the Hoops with a home match against Tommy Wright’s St Johnstone. Ties are to be played on the weekend of February 9th/10th.
That means the match will also come just days before the home clash with Valencia in the Europa League. That’s great news for Rodgers.
Celtic’s 3-0 success over Airdrie means that the club have now won 23 consecutive cup matches under the Northern Irishman. Victory over Saints will take Celtic a massive step closer to a historic treble-treble.
Meanwhile, rivals Rangers have been given a tricky-looking trip to Rugby Park to face Kilmarnock. That’s if they even overcome Cowdenbeath.
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Yes, who cares about them and all that, but it’s still an eye-pleasing fixture.
A fine record in cup competition
Celtic have still only conceded one goal in all of their cup matches this season too. That’s in large part down to Scott Bain, who racked up his seventh straight clean sheet in eight games this season against Airdrie. Whether he’ll continue to play throughout the duration of the tournament remains to be seen.
But there’s no denying the cup gods have smiled on Celtic in recent years with regards to draws. If this draw was several years ago, Celtic would be heading to Hearts whilst Rangers host Auchinleck Talbot.
Other notable ties in the draw include Hearts vs Auchinleck, Ross County vs Inverness, and St Mirren vs Dundee United.
It’s starting to once again shape up very nicely for the Hoops as they chase more history. Below is the full draw announced earlier this afternoon: