UK Edition
Celtic keep treble bid on track with victory over nine-man Aberdeen to reach Scottish Cup final
Aberdeen 0 Celtic 3
Will the Scottish Football Association investigate the collapse of discipline that wrecked whatever hope Aberdeen nourished of halting Celtic’s march towards an unprecedented clean sweep of the domestic honours?
The governing body, which announced a probe into the third Old Firm derby of the season after the Rangers managers and two of his players were dismissed, must now contemplate an Aberdeen performance which saw Dominic Ball and Lewis Ferguson red carded and the management duo of Derek McInnes and Tony Docherty sent to the stands.
The other question which attended this William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final concerned Neil Lennon and the chances of the Celtic interim manager’s chances of being named successor to Brendan Rodgers at the end of the season. Lennon has his advocates amongst the Hoops support but a noisy claque of indeterminate size has also claimed that performances have become less entertaining and effective since Rodgers bolted for Leicester City in February.
That contention was banished within moments of this contest getting under way, when Jozo Simunovic surged upfield to strike a powerful low shot which was heading inside Joe Lewis’s left-hand post until the goalkeeper dived to tip it behind for a corner kick. Despite that warning, Aberdeen continued to look unnerved and they allowed Benkovic a second bite from the corner’s delivery and were lucky that the Croatian made a hash of his finish.
Celtic had gone straight for the jugular. By the end of the afternoon, Aberdeen’s heart had been ripped out. Between times, the Dons lost their heads, a process which began with Ball’s caution for a challenge on Jonny Hayes, which put the full-back on notice that he would have to be canny with his challenges for the rest of the proceedings.
Instead, with the interval approaching and Aberdeen having survived a rocky opening, Ball launched himself into an aerial challenge with Ryan Christie which left the Celtic midfielder unconscious on the turf after a clash of heads. There seemed to be no overt malicious intent in Ball’s action, but there was no sense to it either, as the Englishman must have reflected as he trudged from the field.
Christie, meanwhile, underwent six minutes of treatment before being stretchered off and taken to hospital and it was in time added on before the interval that the depleted Pittodrie side fell behind. Aberdeen’s reconstituted back line was breached when James Forrest broke forward, jinked away from Max Lowe and used his left foot to strike an explosive controlled shot beyond the stricken Lewis.
Lennon later highlighted Forrest’s reliable habit of meeting the demands of the moment. “He’s a beautifully balanced footballer, he’s having a great three or four years, but the potential was always there when he was a kid, Lennon said.
“He’s one of the best players in Britain now. His goal was top-class and set us on to another tremendous victory. He’s been absolutely outstanding since I’ve come in the door, so I’m very, very grateful for his performances.”
The interval reduced Aberdeen’s active contingent further, with Docherty banished to the stands for what was reportedly abuse of the match officials and their morale was dented further after play resumed, when Michael Devlin barged Hayes inside the box, to concede a penalty kick which was converted tidily by Odsonne Edouard.
The collapse continued midway through the second half when Ferguson lunged at Tom Rogic – who had replaced Christie – with a two-footed challenge to incite a straight red card. Salt was applied to Aberdeen’s gaping wound when the resultant free-kick was played to Rogic, who planted a raking shot into the corner of the net to make it 3-0 and ensure that Celtic would meet Hearts in the Scottish Cup final at Hampden Park on May 15, when they will have the chance to complete their epochal triple treble.
What was left of the proceedings saw McInnes ordered to the stand for reacting to taunts from a section of the Celtic support. Those partisans were culpable, too, for their part in the provocation, having directed a sectarian chorus towards the Aberdeen manager.
“The first sending off changes everything,” McInnes said afterwards. “Any time you go down to 10 men against a team like Celtic, a red card is pivotal.
“It was harsh on Dom Ball. At the first yellow card, Jonny Hayes has kicked the ball out of the park. The second one is a clash of heads and I do feel we were harshly treated. I got sent off because of my reaction to the Celtic support.
“I shouldn’t react and I accept that and apologise for that.”
Arguably the most heartening news was that fireworks were restricted to their use as metaphor. Neither semi-final tie was marred by the throwing of smoke bombs or flares because pre-match bag searches identified pyrotechnics and resulted in at least two arrests.