Holders Celtic powered into the last 16 as Highland League Buckie Thistle’s Scottish Cup adventure ended on a sodden Glasgow afternoon.
The fifth-tier side from the north east of Scotland, cheered on by around 2,500 travelling fans, had drawn the plum tie as top-flight sides entered the competition.
And they held the Scottish champions for 25 minutes before eventually succumbing 5-0 at Celtic Park.
Paulo Bernardo dinked the opener, Odin Holm netted his first Celtic goal with a neat finish and Kyogo Furuhashi made it three before half-time.
Luis Palma and Rocco Vata added further strikes in the second period of a contest that also included four disallowed Celtic goals, as Brendan Rodgers maintained his 100% winning record in the Scottish Cup.
The draw for the fifth round takes place later on Sportscene on BBC Scotland and iPlayer, with the programme starting at 19:15 GMT.
The tie was about the occasion for Buckie, who came close to reaching the SPFL play-offs last season but had only played three times since the third round at the end of November due to weather-related call-offs.
Their association with Stephen King did not curse them to a nightmare akin to a passage from one of the horror author’s novels. Rather they made their hosts work for their goals and gave their supporters a memorable, if inclement, day out.
The persistent rain threatened to spoil the spectacle and a lengthy VAR delay also dampened enthusiasm early on.
The game at Celtic Park was the only fourth-round tie to use the review system and it was called upon to discern whether Liel Abada had been fouled in the Buckie box. That proved to be a moot point with offside against the winger the decision that ultimately prevailed.
Part-time Buckie continued to play an effective offside line. A Greg Taylor cross turned in by a defender was ruled out and Kyogo and Bernardo were also frustrated when converting crosses from a flagged Abada.
The visitors’ resistance was broken when Matt O’Riley released Bernardo, who chipped the onrushing Stuart Knight for a third goal in four games, and Holm finished off an intricate move with a strike off the left post.
It was always going to be a tall order for Buckie, even more so when two down but, after Liam Scales had headed against their crossbar, Josh Peters found himself in on goal and the forward’s shot was blocked by Joe Hart’s foot.
Celtic’s typically ruthless response was an Abada delivery and Kyogo finish from close range. This time it counted and reminded home fans what they missed during Abada’s injury absence in the first half of the season.
Palma got in on the act after the break when he cut inside on the right and beat Knight at his near post.
Abada was foiled by the offside flag again when he netted from the right and, at the other end, Peters’ claim for a penalty following Scales’ challenge left the officials unmoved.
The sight of Kyogo and Abada making way for Vata and Mikey Johnston might have had the Buckie players breathing a sigh of relief.
But the substitutes combined for the fifth goal, Johnston getting to the bye-line and squaring for youngster Vata to score his maiden Celtic goal.
Buckie Thistle manager Graeme Stewart: “A lot of positives. If I’m being critical, I’m not happy with a few of the goals but we’re playing against Celtic so we have to be realistic. You could see how hard they were working. I don’t think we’ve got anything to be disappointed about too much.
“Overall, I think we can be happy with a lot of the performance. The guys stuck to the game plan excellently. We’d like some more of it, this week’s been great. Not just this week, the last five, six weeks has been fantastic. It’s been fun. Going out there playing, it’s exciting. The atmosphere was fantastic.”
Line-ups
Celtic
Formation 4-2-3-1
- 1Hart
- 2JohnstonSubstituted forRalstonat 72′minutes
- 17NawrockiSubstituted forWelshat 79′minutes
- 5Scales
- 3Taylor
- 33O’Riley
- 15HolmSubstituted forKellyat 72′minutes
- 11AbadaSubstituted forJohnstonat 64′minutes
- 28Gonçalves Bernardo
- 7Palma
- 8FuruhashiSubstituted forVataat 64′minutesBooked at 71mins
Substitutes
- 4Lagerbielke
- 14Turnbull
- 25Bernabéi
- 29Bain
- 39Vata
- 48Kelly
- 56Ralston
- 57Welsh
- 90Johnston
Buckie Thistle
Formation 5-4-1
- 1Knight
- 14McCabe
- 19MunroSubstituted forFyffeat 84′minutes
- 3McHardy
- 6Murray
- 21WoodSubstituted forRamsayat 72′minutes
- 18MaciverSubstituted forMacKinnonat 84′minutes
- 15PughBooked at 14mins
- 10MacAskillSubstituted forGoodallat 63′minutes
- 8Barry
- 9PetersSubstituted forKeirat 72′minutes
Substitutes
- 2Wood
- 5MacKinnon
- 7Fraser
- 11McLeod
- 12Storrier
- 16Fyffe
- 17Ramsay
- 20Goodall
- 22Keir
Live Text
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Match ends, Celtic 5, Buckie Thistle 0.
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Second Half ends, Celtic 5, Buckie Thistle 0.
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Hand ball by Joseph McCabe (Buckie Thistle).
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Foul by Mikey Johnston (Celtic).
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Sam Pugh (Buckie Thistle) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
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Attempt saved. Daniel Kelly (Celtic) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
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Attempt saved. Matt O’Riley (Celtic) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Anthony Ralston.
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Corner, Celtic. Conceded by Stuart Knight.
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Attempt saved. Rocco Vata (Celtic) left footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the top left corner. Assisted by Daniel Kelly.
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Attempt missed. Luis Palma (Celtic) right footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Greg Taylor.
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Substitution, Buckie Thistle. Ryan Fyffe replaces Hamish Munro.
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Substitution, Buckie Thistle. Lewis MacKinnon replaces Jack Maciver.
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Offside, Celtic. Rocco Vata is caught offside.
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Offside, Buckie Thistle. Darryl McHardy is caught offside.
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Foul by Greg Taylor (Celtic).
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Jack Maciver (Buckie Thistle) wins a free kick on the right wing.
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Substitution, Celtic. Stephen Welsh replaces Maik Nawrocki.
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Offside, Celtic. Greg Taylor is caught offside.
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Attempt missed. Maik Nawrocki (Celtic) header from the centre of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Luis Palma with a cross following a corner.
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Corner, Celtic. Conceded by Stuart Knight.
How to play
Rate players out of 10 throughout or after the game. The rater will close 30 minutes after the final whistle.
Rating range key = Give it up = Pure perfection
Celtic
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Squad number1Player nameHart
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Squad number2Player nameJohnston
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Squad number17Player nameNawrocki
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Squad number5Player nameScales
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Squad number3Player nameTaylor
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Squad number33Player nameO’Riley
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Squad number15Player nameHolm
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Squad number11Player nameAbada
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Squad number28Player namePaulo Bernardo
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Squad number7Player namePalma
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Squad number8Player nameFuruhashi
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Squad number39Player nameVata
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Squad number48Player nameKelly
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Squad number56Player nameRalston
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Squad number57Player nameWelsh
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Squad number90Player nameJohnston
Buckie Thistle
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Squad number1Player nameKnight
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Squad number14Player nameMcCabe
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Squad number19Player nameMunro
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Squad number3Player nameMcHardy
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Squad number6Player nameMurray
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Squad number21Player nameWood
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Squad number18Player nameMaciver
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Squad number15Player namePugh
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Squad number10Player nameMacAskill
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Squad number8Player nameBarry
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Squad number9Player namePeters
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Squad number5Player nameMacKinnon
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Squad number16Player nameFyffe
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Squad number17Player nameRamsay
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Squad number20Player nameGoodall
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Squad number22Player nameKeir