CIS Cup semi-final, Thursday February 5th

Celtic 3

Dundee United 0

1:0 Balde (52); 2:0 Larsson (80); 3:0 Balde (90)

Att: 16,331

MIB: Stuart Dougal

Celtic: Hedman; Valgaeren, Balde, Laursen; McNamara, Lambert, Petrov, Sutton, Smith; Larsson, Hartson

A miserably cold evening at a sodden Hampden, where a crowd of less than 18,000 were "entertained" by a mediocre Celtic performance that still proved enough to set up a confrontation against the TFOD in the final.

Even by SPL standards, the away support of around 700 was pathetic. Perhaps they knew in advance what sort of fare Ian Mc Coll was going to serve up. The Arabs' new gaffer resorted to tried and tested tactics, as befits his Ibrox schooling under the Beast. Basically he served up the same sort of stuff he is alleged to have left in Souness's shoe and got his players to kick anything moving with hoops. Primordial Cloven Hooves, such as Miller, were lucky to stay on the park, while Lauchlan was eventually red carded in this tousey encounter.

Celtic, though always dominant, took time to adapt to these tactics, with Lambert suffering most early on. Chances did come and Hartson and Larsson both missed opportunities, with the Swede being guilty of a criminal miss when through on the United keeper. At the other end, Bobo did well to stop McIntyre putting the Arabs ahead after a neat Lauchlan cutback wrong footed the rest of the Sieve.

OFM's half time talk appeared to do the trick, though, as Bobo charged forward at every chance. Obviously inspired by his previous exploits at Hampden, Balde opened the scoring after a fine series of passes linking Agathe, Hartson and Larsson, finishing with Henke slipping the ball past Combe to Balde. Not long after, Smith began to show and was unlucky not to score after a mazy run finished with a shot off the post. He deserved better.

Larsson was then denied number two, when Sutton headed off the bar and Henke slotted in the rebound. The reason for the chalk -off was a mystery to me, but must have produced a few laughs at the lodge later on. This only delayed the inevitable. Larsson finally got his goal after a fine hold and shot from 18 yards that comprehensively beat Combe. A second for Bobo with a header at the death was the icing on the cake, a slice of which I hope is well and truly stuck in McCall's craw!