Celtic made hard work of avoiding a historic Scottish Cup upset, with a late Sebastian Tounekti strike sealing a two-goal win over sixth-tier Auchinleck Talbot to book a last-16 tie with Dundee.
Despite interim boss Martin O’Neill making 10 changes from the midweek win at Falkirk, it was still a strong Celtic team who took the field at Rugby Park.
But the Premiership side were far from convincing in their victory, taking more than half an hour to take the lead through Johnny Kenny and squandering countless opportunities as Talbot sat in and soaked up pressure.
The visitors really should have scored at least couple more.
Kenny wasted a decent chance after only a couple of minutes and Michel-Ange Balikwisha blasted over from close range.
Irish striker Kenny also hit the bar with a header early in the second half, while Talbot’s best chance came when Celtic keeper Viljami Sinisalo fluffed a punch which almost fell to Connor Boyd.
Kenny also had the ball in the back of the net for a second time just after an hour with a delightful chip over goalkeeper Wullie Muir, but it was ruled out for offside.
Celtic’s nerves were settled three minutes from time by substitute Tounekti, who curled in an unstoppable effort from the corner of the box to kill any hopes of a Talbot equaliser.
While progression to the last 16 was the only real objective for last year’s runners-up, fans would have hoped for a confidence-boosting rout.
Instead, O’Neill posed a frustrated figure on the touchline.
