Celtic 3 Hibs 1

Our Premier Sports Cup journey came to an end following a 3-1 loss against Celtic at Parkhead.

Daizen Maeda’s early double ensured his side had one foot into the quarter-final draw whilst giving us a mountain to overcome.

A stunning header from Mykola Kuharevich halved the deficit before the break, but a defensive mistake cost us in the second half and Kuhn added a third.

David Gray made two changes from the side that faced Celtic last weekend and altered his formation too.

Rocky Bushiri came back into the defence and lined up alongside Warren O’Hora and Marvin Ekpiteta in a back three.

Nathan Moriah-Welsh was the other change as he started in a five-man midfield with Martin Boyle in attack alongside Kuharevich.

Backed by over 1,000 Hibees we made a bright start in the late-summer sunshine and were quickly on the front foot.

Yet, despite this, we would again concede an early goal as the hosts opened the scoring after only four minutes.

Kühn opened the scoring last weekend and was involved this week too as he slipped the ball in between Rocky and Jordan Obita for Reo Hatate to collect and from his low cross, Maeda turned it in.

The Japanese attacker was only in the side this week following an injury to Kyogo and he proved a more than able deputy.

He notched his second goal on 16 minutes when he ghosted in behind Rocky to reach a ball from Kühn and although Ekpiteta and Josef Bursik attempted to close him down, he was alert enough to prod it past the goalkeeper and into the back of the net.

Celtic’s quality was shinning through and we struggled to match their movement and intensity as the game threatened to get away from us.

On 24 minutes a chance opened for Matt O’Riley inside our box; he attempted to bend a finish into the far corner only to catch it all wrong which allowed Bursik to gather comfortably.

Celtic’s pressure was relentless. Maeda went close to completing his hat-trick with a shot on the turn that had the beating of Bursik, only to flash just over the crossbar. Then, out of nowhere, we were suddenly right back in the contest.

Boyle’s floated free kick into the back post was met by the diving header from Kuharevich which looped over Schmeichel and into the far corner of the net. It was a stunning finish from the Ukrainian to notch his first goal for the club since returning to us for a second spell.

The goal was enough to lift our performance and sow seeds of doubt into the heads of the Celtic players as we went on to enjoy our best period of the first half.

Celtic remained a threat however, and Maeda should’ve done better when put through on goal in the closing seconds only for a heavy touch to allow Bursik to gather.

At half-time we replaced Moriah-Welsh with Nicky Cadden for his First Team debut and looked lively from the start, forcing Schmeichel into a comfortable save.

Yet, despite our positive start, we were undone by poor defensive play as Ekpiteta’s pass back was slack and Bursik was closed down by Kühn - who had a simple tap in and restored Celtic's two-goal lead.

Our response was to move to a back four with Chris Cadden and Kieron Bowie replacing Kuharevich and Ekpiteta.

With 17 minutes remaining, O’Riley put substitute Adam Idah clean through on goal, however, Bursik read the danger and smothered the ball bravely at the striker’s feet.

The hosts had one final opportunity to add to their advantage when Luis Palma had an unchallenged shot from the edge of our box only to drag his effort wide. That was the last action of note, meaning we exit the Premier Sports Cup in the Round of 16.