Falkirk no match for Hoops

McDonald: Two goals

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Scott McDonald grabbed a brace as holders Celtic secured an easy passage into the fourth round of the Co-operative Insurance Cup against Falkirk.

Several Hoops fringe players also impressed, with Pat McCourt opening his account for the club and Chris Killen completing a 4-0 rout for the visitors.

Falkirk did see a late attempt come back off the woodwork but an upset was never on the cards.

Lukasz Zaluska finally made his competitive debut for Celtic following his summer move from Dundee United, while Mark Wilson also made his first start of the season.

Willo Flood, Marc Crosas, Barry Robson, McCourt, Paul Caddis and Stephen McManus were all drafted into the team as Tony Mowbray made eight changes that narrowly defeated Hearts at the weekend.

Shaun Maloney, Andreas Hinkel and injury doubt Scott Brown were all rested and not named in the squad while Aiden McGeady and Glenn Loovens were kept in reserve on the bench.

Falkirk also made changes as they sought their first win since a Europa League tie against Vaduz in their opening game of the season, with Jackie McNamara and Thomas Scobbie on the bench, and Scott Arfield back in the starting line-up after recovering from injury.

Early Chances

Celtic pressured early and had an opportunity when McDonald was fouled just outside the box by Darren Barr.

Robson stepped up for the free-kick and his effort clipped the Falkirk wall before falling across the face of goal and wide of the post.

The midfielder had another chance to claim the opener when he collected a pass from Flood in a promising position but fired straight into the arms of goalkeeper Robert Olejnik.

Falkirk then went close when Flood failed to clear the danger and the ball broke for Carl Finnigan, who tried to hook over Zaluska but his shot took a slight deflection off Caddis and was wide of target.

The breakthrough came after 28 minutes when Killen released Caddis down the right flank and he squared into the path of McDonald, providing the striker with a simple tap-in.

The Hoops were threatening again when Caddis provided a long ball to McCourt at the back post but his ferocious volley was blocked by Olejnik.

Celtic continued to press and Wilson tried to tee up the shot for Killen but he did not connected cleanly and, despite doing well to get a shot on target, his effort was held by the Falkirk keeper.

At the other end, Zaluska was forced to make his first real save of the game after a long-range drive from Arfield as Celtic held on to their slim advantage heading into the interval.

Goals

Hopes of a Falkirk were dashed when McDonald claimed his second of the night eight minutes after half-time.

A McCourt corner found Gary Caldwell at the far post and his blocked header fell kindly for McDonald, who turned and shot into the back of the net from a few yards out.

McCourt himself was on the scoresheet after 64 minutes with the best goal of the night.

The Irishman beat several players, with Brian McLean's last-ditch attempt to halt his run falling just short, before cheekily lobbing the goalkeeper.

Not to be outdone, Killen rifled home a right-foot shot from 10 yards with 73 minutes gone after collecting a low cross from Niall McGinn, who had exhibited superb pace down the right flank.

Celtic were not content to sit on their comfortable lead and Olejnik was called into action to make a decent save from McCourt's powerful point-blank shot.

Falkirk were denied a consolation goal late on when former Celtic youngster Kjartan Finnbogason saw his header cannon off the crossbar on what proved to be a disappointing night for Eddie May's men.