Paradise at the seaside as Celtic hit the goal trail

embarrassment of Arbroath and their manager, Danny McGrain, once a hero

in the green and white himself.

At times it seemed like coconut-shy football with Celtic queuing up to

beat the unfortunate Derek Jackson in the Arbroath goal.

It was virtually a faultless performance by Celtic, whose promise to

get their goal scoring act together was fulfilled.

Despite his disappointment McGrain retained his sense of humour. ''It

was like Muhammad Ali against me,'' he said and added: ''It was the

seventh that killed us.''

Celtic manager Liam Brady played it low key, saying that while it was

a fine display, ''we should not get carried away.''

It was the Parkhead club's biggest win under Brady and sets them up

for a meeting with Airdrie in the quarter-final next week. It might be a

bit tougher then.

Celtic could scarcely have planned a better start than a five-minute

strike by Charlie Nicholas. Frank McAvennie slipped past his marker

before sending over a cross which was missed by another defender,

Mitchell. The ball landed on Nicholas' chest, was immediately tamed and

then sent over the line.

It was the completion of a superb move begun by a brilliant crossfield

pass from Wdowczyk to McGinlay and it signalled the beginning of what

was to be a remarkable night for Celtic.

McStay had the ball in the net a few minutes later but was denied a

score because McGinlay was offside.In 24 minutes, however, the keeper

was left with little chance when McGinlay put Celtic two up.

McStay's first shot was blocked by the keeper and his second cleared

off the line by Mitchell. But McGinlay raced in to ram the ball into the

net.

A minute later Celtic's visit to the seaside had become something of a

stroll on the prom. They went three ahead when Nicholas had a shot which

Jackson was unable to hold and McAvennie was the man on the spot this

time to smack the ball over the line.

Nicholas, who had been in sparkling form, went off the field suffering

from a knock in 30 minutes, with Andy Payton coming on to give Arbroath

fresh problems.

And they failed to cope with the new man four minutes before the

interval when he slipped the offside trap and ran through on a clever

pass from McGinlay before side-footing the ball home.

The Arbroath fans continued their optimistic songs and their decibel

rate rose when Elliot crossed in front of goal and Farnan just failed to

connect. But in 52 minutes Celtic added No.5 after a brilliant piece of

inter-play between McStay, Payton and finally McAvennie who finished it

off from close range.

Celtic decided to give McStay a rest and sent on Brian O'Neil. He soon

got into the act. He laid on a fine pass for Payton to score his second

and Celtic's sixth goal in 60 minutes.

Two minutes later Mark McNally came from defence into attack to score

the seventh after a cross by McGinlay and the eighth soon followed.

McAvennie scored this when he tamed a Collins cross and smashed a

tremendous volley past the beleaguered Jackson.

If it was not bad enough for Arbroath they lost Brian Mitchell 15

minutes from the end when he was sent off after pulling down Payton.

The 10 men held out until a minute from the end when they lost the

ninth goal, Payton getting his hat-trick. However, there was a almighty

cheer yet to come when substitute Kevin Tindal scored for Arbroath just

before the final whistle.

ARBROATH -- Jackson, Hamilton, Florence, Ritchie, Adam, Farnan, Will,

King, Elliot, Martin, Sorbie. Substitutes -- Tindal, Hindson, Harkness.

CELTIC -- Bonner, Boyd, Wdowczyk, Grant, McNally, Galloway, McGinlay,

McStay, McAvennie, Nicholas, Collins. Substitutes -- Payton, O'Neil.

Referee -- A Waddell (Edinburgh).