Celtic manager Martin O’Neill admitted he did not learn much about his squad after a laborious Scottish Cup victory over sixth-tier Auchinleck Talbot.
Only captain Callum McGregor kept his place from the team that edged out Falkirk on Wednesday, as O’Neill handed opportunities to some of the fringe members of his squad.
Stephen Welsh made his first Celtic appearance since December 2024 having been recalled from his loan spell at Motherwell, winger Michel-Ange Balikwisha was brought in out of the cold, and Johnny Kenny was restored up front.
O’Neill has been forthright about the need to strengthen in the January window but, more than halfway through it, there have been no new arrivals at Parkhead.
Kenny missed a host of chances before stabbing home the opening goal from close range and substitute Sebastian Tounekti curled in a magnificent second late on.
Fans chanted “sign a player” at Rugby Park as they were left unimpressed by the fare on the pitch.
“Tonight, it would have been nice to put on a great performance,” O’Neill said. “I was very concerned about the game – but that’s how I’ve spent the last 30 years.
“We should have played much better. I’m not so sure I learned much more than I knew before.”
After making such hard work of a tie against part-time players, O’Neill was asked again if the club were closer to signings.
“I do dread this question,” he said, before joking: “We are making some progress and hopefully we will get the players in before the end of the season.”
O’Neill maintained his perfect domestic record this season, having originally been parachuted into Parkhead following the acrimonious departure of Brendan Rodgers in October.
The call again went out to the 73-year-old after Wilfried Nancy’s torrid 33-day tenure and he took the opportunity against Auchinleck to cast an eye over players he had previously not used.
“We made 10 changes,” O’Neill said. “A couple of lads who played tonight did not feature for me at all in the first spell. [Michel-Ange] Balikwisha, Paulo [Bernardo].
“It was a matter of trying to see what they could do. We’ve a fair idea of what we need to do [in the window] and I want to get on with it.”
Kenny scored his sixth goal of the season, but it was the chances he failed to take and also his inability to do the other aspects of lone centre-forward play that frustrated fans.
“Most teams that play against Celtic are comfortable to leave them with possession as long as they don’t play through the lines,” former Celtic defender Jackie McNamara said.
“They force them wide and say ‘we’ll deal with it’ because they don’t have a target man in the middle to win those headers.
“If they did they would score many more goals but you can see with Kenny it’s not his game. He’s a second striker and not an out and out number nine.”
Former Hearts striker Ryan Stevenson was similarly unimpressed by some of Celtic’s starters.
“Martin will have learned a lot today about players who are on the fringes,” he said.
“He and his backroom staff will have a meeting and they’ll say ‘he didn’t grasp his opportunity’ or ‘I don’t think he did well enough’ or ‘he did do well enough’.
“James Forrest did well and Luke McCowan worked hard but there’s too many that have kind of gone through the motions.”
Kenny himself hopes his goal can spark a better run of form before crucial matches in Europe against Bologna and Utrecht, either side of a Scottish Premiership trip to league leaders Hearts.
“That’s the life of a striker, you need to be ready when something comes,” he said. “It’s been a tough few weeks. Every striker misses chances and hopefully I can go on a run.
“We know we’re a good side. We’ve had a bit of a blip but we can only focus game by game and that’s Bologna on Thursday night.”
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