Celtic made hard work of avoiding a historic Scottish Cup upset, with a late Sebastian Tounekti strike sealing a two-goal win over sixth-tier Auchinleck Talbot to book a last-16 tie with Dundee.
Despite interim boss Martin O’Neill making 10 changes from the midweek win at Falkirk, it was still a strong Celtic team who took the field at Rugby Park.
But the Premiership side were far from convincing in their victory, taking more than half an hour to take the lead through Johnny Kenny and squandering countless opportunities as Talbot sat in and soaked up pressure.
The visitors really should have scored at least couple more.
Kenny squandered a decent chance after only a couple of minutes and Michel-Ange Balikwisha blasted over from close range.
Irish striker Kenny also hit the bar with a header early in the second half, while Talbot’s best chance came when Celtic keeper Viljami Sinisalo fluffed a punch which almost fell to Connor Boyd.
Kenny also had the ball in the back of the net for a second time just after an hour with a delightful chip over goalkeeper Wullie Muir, but it was ruled out for offside.
Celtic’s nerves were settled three minutes from time by substitute Tounekti, who curled in an unstoppable effort from the corner of the box to kill any hopes of a Talbot equaliser.
While progression to the last 16 was the only real objective for last year’s runners-up, fans would have hoped for a confidence-boosting rout.
Instead, O’Neill posed a frustrated figure on the touchline.
It may have been backs-to-the-wall defence for almost the full 90 minutes, but the resolve Ayrshire side Talbot showed throughout was extraordinary.
They enjoyed a lap of honour at the end and rightly so. Bigger teams, assembled for millions more, have folded far easier against Celtic.
This is not the Celtic team of old, though. Not to diminish Talbot’s achievement, but increasingly there is a sense that it doesn’t matter who it is – if you sit in a low block against this current Celtic side, you will frustrate them.
Celtic did have chance after chance though. Talbot keeper Wullie Muir made a few good saves, and the woodwork was rattled, but most of the opportunities missed by the visitors were through their own baffling inaccuracy.
Tounekti’s goal, stunning as it was, struggled to paper over the cracks.
Most fans would accept that, for all of Talbot’s determination, Celtic should be putting umpteen goals past a side six divisions below them.
But they didn’t. They huffed and puffed, while the away fans sang “sign a player, sign a player, sign a player” throughout. Although Kenny scored, their attacking edge remains blunt.
There are no game-changers in this side. The XI here included multiple internationals, yet they struggled to break the West of Scotland Premier Division team down for the majority of the game.
Instead, most of the plaudits went to Tommy Sloan’s men. Year after year, they leave a mark on this competition. The tag of ‘biggest weeist’ team in Scotland sticks for a reason.
Perhaps that is what the ‘magic of the cup’ is about after all.
Not necessarily upsets, but unforgettable days for whole towns, and for a squad of players made up of joiners, engineers, brickies and the like, staying within touching distance of Celtic for 87 minutes.
Auchinleck Talbot manager Tommy Sloan: “It was a fantastic effort from the lads. I’m not surprised they came up with it because they normally do.
“We had been going well this season up until the last few weeks and they’ve proved today that they’re capable of digging in and putting on a performance.
“We would have liked to have threatened the goal a bit more but the effort’s been fantastic and that is for another day.”
Celtic manager Martin O’Neill: “We can play much better. Obviously I made a lot of changes to the team but I’m still concerned about the match.
“It was nice to win but we can play much better, though that’s down to me making so many changes.
“It was a bit of a toil [to get a second goal], and we lacked a spark. We had lots of possession and even when we did create chances we were a bit wasteful as well.”
Celtic travel to Bologna on Thursday to play in the Europa League (17:45 GMT), before facing Hearts at Tynecastle next Sunday (15:00).
Auchinleck Talbot host Thorniewood United at Beechwood in the West of Scotland League Cup next Saturday (15:00).
