Celtic win Scottish Youth Cup after beating Rangers

Celtic lifted the Scottish Youth Cup after beating Glasgow rivals Rangers 5-2 at a largely empty Hampden Park.

The final was played mostly behind closed doors after crowd problems in previous fixtures but those who were in the national stadium saw a fairly one-sided affair as the Parkhead youngsters emphatically stopped the Gers from retaining the trophy.

Despite some early Rangers pressure Celtic took the lead after 20 minutes. Kieran Tierney’s corner bounced off Gers defender Luca Gasparotto into the path of Sam Wardrop who bundled the ball over the line from close range.

Rangers wasted no time in getting back on level terms, however, practically scoring from the kick-off when Celtic’s Calum Waters accidentally nodded the ball past onrushing goalkeeper Jordan Hart on the edge of the box.

Celtic regained their lead five minutes later, however, when Aidan Nesbitt shrugged off the attention of three Rangers defenders before smashing the ball into the bottom corner.

It was 3-1 shortly after the half-hour mark when Luke Donnelly bagged his seventh goal of the tournament, bringing the ball down well and making space for himself in the box before firing the ball through the legs of Rangers keeper Liam Kelly.

Nesbitt extended the Parkhead side’s lead with 20 minutes remaining when he got on the end of Donnelly’s pass to lash his effort into the roof of the net with the Gers defence posted missing again.

And he wrapped up his hat-trick a few minutes later from the spot after Craig Halkett brought down Tierney, although there was some debate over whether the foul took place inside the box.

Rangers did get one back close to the final whistle, however, when Ryan Hardie cut the ball back for substitute Dylan Dykes to fire into the corner.