Premier Sports Cup

Thursday, September 23, 2021

Celtic Park

CELTIC…3

(Jota 26, Abada 40, Turnbull 47)

RAITH ROVERS…0

The Celts booked their place at Hampden in the Premier Sports Cup semi-final with a 3-0 victory over Raith Rovers in a game that was never in any doubt once Jota broke the deadlock in the 26^th minute with his first goal for the Hoops.

Liel Abada made the final minutes of the first half more than comfortable when he headed in Celtic’s second five minutes before the break and David Turnbull eased things even further with a beauty of a goal soon after the break.

The big talking point before the game was the inclusion of Greek striker, Giorgos Giakoumakis on the bench and the possibility of him making his debut on the night.

However, Ange Postecoglou kept the frontman under wraps and it was another new Bhoy, Irishman, Liam Scales who celebrated his Celtic debut with a 3-0 win.

The visitors pushed forward in the early passage when possession allowed them to do that, but the Hoops were creating the more clear-cut chances with Jota and Adam Montgomery creating all sorts of avenues on the left and it wasn’t long before the Fife side ran out of ideas.

Or, more to the point, Celtic didn’t allow them the time to create any ideas, and it was only a matter of time of time before the pressure from the men in green and white paid off – and it was no real surprise that it was Portuguese Bhoy, Jota who opened the scoring.

Hopefully his mum was waving his boyhood Celtic scarf back in Portugal when the ball hit the net as James McCarthy put the scorer through with a lovely pass leaving him to chip Jamie MacDonald in the Raith goal for his first Celtic strike.

That was in the 26^th minute and he almost got his second Celtic goal immediately after as the Hoops continued the press once more straight after the visitors restarted play.

The Celts continued to get stronger as the game went on and it was nearly another goal from Jota that gave the Hoops their second, but his goal-bound shot was parried by MacDonald in the away goal and fellow 2021/22 new Bhoy, Abada was on hand to head the ball home for the second.

There was even more incessant pressure before the break from the men in green and white but they and the fans in the stands had to settle for 2-0 at the break.

Jota goal primes way forward to League Cup semi-final