Clyde 0 Celtic 5: Juninho lit up a town once labelled the ugliest in Britain with a little Brazilian magic as Celtic cruised into the semi-finals yesterday.
Cumbernauld, home to Clyde, is not somewhere immediately associated with sambas or a carnival atmosphere. Yet Juninho and the visit of Celtic provided both.
The World Cup winner laid on three of the goals and served notice to Martin O'Neill that he might yet have something to offer, even though his likely reward for this performance will be to be relegated to the substitutes' bench again for the Premierleague match against Dundee on Wednesday.
Celtic joined Dundee United, Hibernian and Hearts in the last four thanks to two goals from Stanislav Varga, a penalty from Alan Thompson and further efforts from Stilian Petrov and Craig Bellamy, the Welshman's first since joining from Newcastle on loan.
Although it was fairly straightforward in the end, there was a hint of giant-killing in an interesting first half when Clyde matched their illustrious opponents and were left to rue a decision by the referee Craig Thomson that might have changed the game.
After half an hour the official watched Craig Bryson negotiate several desperate challenges, most notably from Petrov, before firing a fine shot past Rab Douglas only to stop the home cele brations in mid-flow to give Clyde a foul.
The protests were long and entirely pointless, and to rub salt into their wounds Darren Sheridan's free-kick was touched round the post by Douglas.
That was perhaps the kick up the backside Celtic needed and after 40 minutes they went ahead when Varga headed home Juninho's corner.
If it was an unconvincing first half there was a dramatic improvement from Celtic after the break.
Three minutes in, Thompson scored from the penalty spot after the substitute Shaun Maloney, on for Chris Sutton, was brought down and further goals followed from Petrov on the hour, Varga again after 68 minutes and Bellamy four minutes later.
In the end it was entirely predictable but the First Division team will have enjoyed the experience. "Yet we're disappointed," admitted their manager Billy Reid. "We didn't deserve 5-0 although we gave away cheap goals and you can't do that.
"But I was pleased with other aspects. I felt we were the better team in the first half and although I have no problem over the one we had disallowed I didn't think we got much from the referee in the rest of the match."
O'Neill, meanwhile, admitted his side were "stodgy" in the first half and is now concerned about injuries to Sutton, Stephane Henchoz and Maloney.
On the plus side, however, he insisted: "I was very pleased with Maloney's contribution because he's been out for a year through injury, and it was good to see Bellamy get his first goal."
CLYDE: Halliwell, Mensing, Bollan, Balmer, Potter, Sheridan (Burns 61 mins), Arbuckle (Gilhaney 61), Gibson, Bryson (Jones 78), Malone, Harty. Subs not used: Morrison, Wilson. Booked: Mensing, Sheridan.
CELTIC: Douglas, Henchoz, McNamara, Balde, Varga, Juninho Paulista, Thompson, Lennon (Lambert 70), Sutton (Maloney 45 mins), Petrov (McGeady 70 mins), Bellamy. Subs not used: Marshall, Laursen. Booked: Thompson, Bellamy. Goals: Varga 40, Thompson 48 pen, Petrov 60, Varga 68, Bellamy 72.
Referee: C Thomson (Scotland).
