Celtic 3-0 Stirling Albion

Jan 13 2008 Gavin Berry At Parkhead

Strachan's Joy As Right-Back Search Comes To An End

CELTIC boss Gordon Strachan hailed new Bhoy Andreas Hinkel's debut display as the Scottish Cup holders marched into the next round.

The £2.1million German signing slotted in at right back and the 25-year-old looked the part as the Hoops dumped First Division Stirling Albion out of the tournament.

Hinkel was awarded the sponsors' Man of the Match award at Parkhead - although Aiden McGeady would have cause to argue that decision - and Strachan was delighted with the former Seville man's display.

The Hoops gaffer said: "I was impressed with Andreas, the coaches were impressed and his team-mates were impressed.

"That makes us look stronger, that's for sure.

We have a better balance now with a right-back so that was a big plus point."

Shunsuke Nakamura also made his first appearance for three months after a knee injury and completed the scoring with a brilliant third goal after Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink's opener and Scott McDonald's strike.

Strachan said: "It was good to see Nakamura back. You could see he was rusty but with a lot of games coming up, more important games, we felt it was better to sub him towards the end."

Despite the scoreline the brave Binos could be proud of their performance and were well organised under boss Allan Moore and his assistant, ex-Celt Mark McNally.

Strachan added: "We had to beware of an upset and tried our best to make sure that didn't happen.

"But Stirling must be pleased with themselves as I remember when I was at Coventry and the Macclesfield team came along and said they were really going to enjoy the day.

"They ended up losing 7-0 and I've never seen such a dejected bunch of players in my life.

"That didn't happen and Stirling can walk out with their heads held high and I'm glad because I've been to Stirling a couple of times and been looked after well."

It was Celtic's first game of the new year after two call-offs as a mark of respect following Phil O'Donnell's tragic death and there was a minute's applause for the club's former player before kick-off.

Stirling were whipped 8-0 on their last visit to the east end of Glasgow in 2001 and were desperate to avoid conceding an early goal that could have led to a similar scoreline.

They had keeper Scott Christie to thank for that not happening in the seventh minute when he pulled off a good save from McDonald's half volley from the edge of the box.

But the First Division's bottom side didn't want to just make up the numbers and PaulMcKenna thundered a shot over Artur Boruc's bar after a sweeping counter attack.

Vennegoor of Hesselink then went close to breaking the deadlock when he flashed a header past the post from Hinkel's ball into the box.

The Dutchman was almost on target again with another header - this time from Lee Naylor's cross from the left - but it was deflected for a corner.

Stirling arrived at Parkhead without a win in their previous seven games, ironically since their last match in the Scottish Cup - a 6-0 thrashing of Stranraer.

It's safe to say this was always going to be a much tougher task than that visit to Stair Park and it became almost impossible when the breakthrough for Celtic finally came just before half-time.

McGeady was the creator with a good cross from the left and the Binos defence left Vennegoor of Hesselink completely unmarked to allow the big striker the chance to head past Christie.

The Binos could have caved in after that yet it was the visitors who had the next best chance when Ross Harris - a last-minute replacement for Steven Bell who was injured in the warm-up - fired wide of the goal from a clear position inside the box.

McDonald almost doubled Celtic's lead with a close-range shot that Christie did well to save at the near post and just after the re-start the little Aussie pulled an effort wide after Massimo Donati set him up.

While Celtic only held a one-goal advantage it was always going to be uncomfortable on the rare occasions Stirling broke away.

And that proved to be the case when former Parkhead trainee Harris had a long-range effort on target which Boruc saved. But with 20 minutes left Celts killed the tie when Naylor set up McDonald inside the box and the Aussie hitman steered the ball home for his 18th goal of the season.

The Binos would have got one back almost immediately if it hadn't been for the superb instincts of Boruc who pulled off a brilliant point-blank save from Andrew Graham's header.

Thatwas a blow for Stirling and it got worse when Nakamura made it 3-0.

The Japanese star showed his superb technique as he sent an exquisite curling shot into the net, the type of brilliance Celtic have been missing during his near-three month lay off.