Celtic Come From Behind To Defeat Dunfermline

Robbie Keane Scores First Goal For The Bhoys

Celtic came from behind on Sunday morning to defeat Dunfermline and advance to the quarterfinals of the Active Nation Scottish Cup.

The game, which saw Robbie Keane score his first goal in the hoops, did not start well for the visitors, who were hard-pressed by Dunfermline in midfield and who failed to really exert much pressure on their defense.

That said, Celtic found the net first, Diomansy Kamara getting on the end of a ping-ponging ball in the box and firing it past Dunfermline's helpless 'keeper Greg Fleming.

The lead wasn't to last long though, Dunfermline striking back before the visiting fans' cheers had died down.

Phinn got on the end of a long ball on the right, easily passed Josh Thompson and threaded a good pass to David Graham, who side-footed the ball into the goal.

Taking strength from their response, Dunfermline applied the pressure and Steven Bell was fouled in the box by Paul Caddis.

Andy Kirk stepped forward for the spot-kick and made no mistake, sending Boruc the wrong way and scoring his 15th of the season.

Celtic didn't let this get them down though and continued trying to open up the game and create chances, their hard work paying off with three minutes left until the half-time whistle.

Braafheid sent a good ball in from the left, which was headed goal-bound by Brown and deflected back out by Fleming, who could do nothing as Morten Rasmussen fired it back into the net.

Robbie Keane came off the bench at the half, replacing Marc Crosas and he repeated tormented the home defense with his skills.

Finding himself one-on-one with Fleming, he couldn't squeeze the ball in but the rebound out to the touchline was found by Kamara, who placed another good ball into the six-yard box. In the swirling confusion, hapless defender Calum Woods found himself putting the ball into his own net.

The fourth goal came after Robbie Keane was brought down in the box by Austin McCann. The Spurs ace stepped up to take the penalty himself and rolled the ball home for his first goal for Celtic.

Tony Mowbray was delighted with his new signing's performance, saying: "There were some moments of magic from Robbie when he sat players on their backside in the box, in tight areas - and he can take a penalty as we saw. Wednesday will be a hard game but hopefully the extra expectation and tension lifts the group.

"Robbie is a very humble guy who doesn't carry a superstar ego around with him. He just wants to train and play and pass his advice on. He is a good guy to have around, he loves football. He will have many chances to play at Celtic Park and I hope this will be the first of many successful games for him.

"I spoke to Robbie during the week about my plans for the Dunfermline game. Three 90 minutes in seven days for the boy is probably asking for trouble injury-wise and I think he agreed.

"He played 45 minutes and we decided it was best to play the second half instead of the first. It is a loan deal but Robbie is here because I like quality, technical footballers, and he fits that category.

"Robbie adds that finesse in the final third that sometimes makes that difference in games. I hope he is fired up for Wednesday and that's why he played 45 minutes on Sunday. He was always going to be playing 90 minutes on Wednesday or starting the game.