Scottish Gas Men’s Scottish Cup Semi-Final
Aberdeen 3-3 Celtic (AET)
Celtic win 5-6 on penalties
Saturday, 20 April 2024
Hampden Park, Glasgow

Cinch Premiership sides Aberdeen and Celtic met at the National Stadium for the first Scottish Gas Men’s Scottish Cup Semi-Final of the weekend. It was Celtic who progressed to the Scottish Gas Men’s Scottish Cup Final following an action packed afternoon which saw the game being decided by a penalty shoot-out.

Scorers

Aberdeen 3 (Bojan Miovski 2’, Ester Sokler 90’, Angus MacDonald 119‘)

Celtic 3 (Nicolas Kühn 21’, James Forrest 63’, Matt O’Riley 105+1‘)

As It Happened

Aberdeen had the perfect start to the game, taking the lead in the first 2 minutes. Nicholas Devlin played a long ball up the pitch to Leighton Clarkson who played it into the path of Bojan Miovski, with the Aberdeen striker then making his way into the box before slotting the ball past Joe Hart who, despite getting a hand to it, was unable to keep it out of the net.

Celtic pushed for an equaliser, coming close a number of times, before they got it in the 21st minute of the game. Kyogo Furuhashi stole the ball from the Aberdeen defender before he drove into the box. His attempt was blocked by Stefan Gartenmann however the deflection fell to the feet of Nicolas Kühn who dispatched the ball into the empty net.

The second half saw end to end action, with both sides creating a number of chances. Leighton Clarkson had an effort towards goal from a tight angle denied by Joe Hart before Callum McGregor had an effort from distance go over the crossbar at the other end of the pitch. A minute after McGregor’s effort, Alistair Johnston saw his attempt from outside the box go wide of the left hand post.

Having only been on the pitch for a matter of minutes, substitute James Forrest made an instant impact. He received the ball, taking it across the face of the box before firing a great strike into the bottom corner to give Celtic the lead.

Aberdeen had a huge chance to equalise in the 80th minute when David Hoilett received the ball on the left hand side of the box however, with an outcoming Joe Hart, Hoilett’s effort went wide of the left hand post. A few minutes later, Aberdeen came close again when a number of efforts within the box were blocked by the Celtic defence before Joe Hart gathered the ball inches away from the goal line.

Aberdeen got their equaliser on the 90 minute mark when they won back possession in the middle of the pitch before playing the ball out wide to David Hoilett. Hoilett delivered a brilliant ball into the back post area which met the head of Ester Sokler who had rose above everyone else to head home the equaliser to take the game into extra time.

A minute into stoppage time of the first period of extra time, Celtic took the lead of the game again. The ball was played wide to James Forrest who slipped the ball to Alistair Johnston, with the right back then playing the ball to Matt O’Reily in the centre of the box. O’Riley did not hesitate and fired the ball into the back of the net.

Aberdeen thought they had a chance to equalise in the 112th minute when they were awarded a penalty for a foul in the box however a VAR check decided no penalty.

In the 119th minute, Aberdeen got their equaliser. David Hoilett played a great ball into the box and Aberdeen captain Angus MacDonald rose above everyone else to bullet home a header to take the game to penalties.

With the score 3-3 after extra time, a penalty shoot-out decided who would be booking their place in the Scottish Gas Men’s Scottish Cup Final. The penalty shoot out saw Ryan Duncan hit the post with his penalty before Joe Hart stepped up to try and win the game for his side however the shot stoppers penalty was also denied by the post. Hart won the game for Celtic when he saved Killian Phillips penalty, sending Celtic to the final.

Line-ups

Aberdeen: Roos, Devlin (Milne 78’), MacKenzie, Gartenmann, McGrath, Barron (Duncan 105’), Miovski (Morris 99’), Clarkson, Duk (Hoilett 68’), Polvara (Sokler 78’), MacDonald

Unused Substitutes: Doohan, Jensen, Phillips, Rubežić

Celtic: Hart, Johnston, Taylor, Scales, Furuhashi (Idah 69’), Kühn (Palma 85’), Yang (Forrest 61’, Nawrocki 118’), Carter-Vickers, O’Riley, Hatate, McGregor (Iwata 61’)

Unused Substitutes: Bain, Palma, Bernardo, Kelly, Ralston