Keane on target to seal Celtic win

Printer Friendly

Share

Text Size

DUNFERMLINE, Scotland, Feb 7, 2010 (AFP) - Robbie Keane scored his first goal for Celtic as the Hoops came from behind to beat Dunfermline 4-2 in a thrilling Scottish Cup fifth round tie here on Sunday.

The on-loan Spurs striker converted a second-half penalty to complete the scoring for Celtic after coming off the bench at half-time.

The Hoops had taken a 19th minute lead when Diomansy Kamara scored his first goal for the club. But just over 60 seconds later Dunfermline were level when David Graham fired home.

A shock looked on the cards when the First Division side soon found themselves ahead as Andy Kirk struck from the spot after the Pars were awarded a soft penalty following a foul by Paul Caddis.

But Morten Rasmussen struck shortly before the break before Callum Woods scored an own goal as Celtic regained the lead. Keane then struck home from the spot to seal the win to send the Hoops into the quarter-final draw.

Celtic manager Tony Mowbray was relieved to still be in the hunt for some silverware after a difficult week when a league defeat to lowly Kilmarnock all but extinguished their chances of catching bitter rivals Rangers at the top of the table.

"We knew it was never going to be a walk over today (Sunday)," Mowbray said.

"We are disappointed with the nature of the goals we conceded but it was about going through and we are delighted to do that."

His Dunfermline boss Jim McIntyre said he was proud of his players.

"I thought going a goal behind and to react so positively so quickly and then to take the lead was great," he said.

"I just felt when we took the lead we sat back too deep and that allowed Celtic control of the game."

Celtic were without defenders Andreas Hinkel and Jos Hooiveld who were injured in the midweek defeat to Kilmarnock but Scott Brown, Rasmussen and Edson Braafheid came in for starts.

On loan Bayern Munich star Braafheid was involved early on when his floated cross was met by Samaras but Neil McGregor cleared the danger. Celtic were creating all the chances and the opener came in the 19th minute.

Samaras saw his shot cannon back off the bar following a great cross from Braafheid and the ball broke to Kamara at the edge of the box and he smashed a fine strike into the top right-hand corner of the net.

However their lead lasted just 60 seconds when Graham equalised. Nicky Phinn beat Josh Thomson on the right wing before picking out Graham in the box who got in front of Paul Caddis to fire past Artur Boruc.

The home side didn't have to wait long to take the lead when they were awarded a soft penalty in the 27th minute.

Caddis appeared to nudge Steven Bell in the back and referee Charlie Richmond pointed to the spot.

Kirk took the resultant kick and he sent Boruc the wrong way to give the Pars the lead. Rasmussen fired Celtic level two minutes before the break. A Braafheid cross broke to the Dane in the box and after his initial shot was blocked on the line by Greg Fleming the striker sent the rebound past the keeper.

Keane replaced Marc Crosas at half-time and the on-loan Spurs star contributed to the Hoops regaining the lead in the 58th minute. His shot was blocked by Fleming but Kamara fired in a cross from the rebound and Woods stabbed home past his own keeper under pressure from Rasmussen.

And just eight minutes later Keane got his first goal for Celtic.

The Republic of Ireland international was felled in the box by Austin McCann and he picked himself up to send Fleming the wrong way with his spot-kick to seal the win.