Kouassi Eboue enjoyed an hour of action as Celtic bet Hibs 1-0 to move into the last eight of the Scottish Youth Cup.
The January signing from Krasnodar pulled on a Celtic shirt for the first time at the Orian Training Centre as a first half shot from Josh Kerr gave Celtic victory over the table toppers in the Development League.
Shortly after joining Celtic Eboue was treated for a mild outbreak of malaria which delayed his debut but with an hour of action today he’ll be pushing towards a first team debut which is likely to be at some stage in the home match against Hamilton Accies next Saturday.
As well as Eboue, Celtic called in Aidan McIlduff, Theo Archibald and Joe Thomson from their loans at Queens Park, Albion Rovers and Queen of the South for the trip through to the east.
Just past the half hour mark Celtic notched the only goal of the game thanks to Kerr who is a constant goal threat from set-pieces.
Jack Aitchison won control of a throw-in from Mark Hill to steer the ball into Kerr’s path with the defender making no mistake to slam the ball into the net.
Regan Hendry replaced Eboue on the hour mark with Celtic holding onto their lead despite some heavy pressure from Hibs in the closing stages with Conor Hazard pulling off a couple of outstanding saves.
CELTIC: Hazard; Ralston, Wardrop, Kerr, McIlduff; Hill, Kouassi (Hendry); Archibald, Thomson, Miller; Aitchison
SUBS: McAdams, Welsh, Crossan, Johnston, Duffy, Bell.
