Celtic’s quest to win the treble in Scotland stayed alive on Saturday with Ange Postecoglou’s squad advancing to the Scottish Cup semifinals.
Cameron Carter-Vickers scored the third and final goal of Celtic’s 3-0 road victory over Hearts, giving the American defender his first tally of the season. The result also was Celtic’s 13th-consecutive victory in all competitions.
Aaron Mooy needed only two minutes to break the deadlock for the Scottish Premiership leaders, propelling the visitors in front 1-0. Kyogo Furuhashi doubled Celtic’s lead before halftime, continuing a strong season for the Japanese international.
With Celtic fighting to close out the shutout victory, Carter-Vickers killed off any Hearts’ comeback hopes. Carter-Vickers arrived in the box for a Matt O’Riley free kick, hammering home his header into the bottom corner before celebrating in front of the traveling supporters.
Celtic joined Inverness CT as the second club to punch its ticket to April’s semifinal round. Rangers host Raith Rovers on Sunday before Falkirk faces Ayr United on Monday for the final two places.
‘He’s always there, he’s always in the areas where he needs to be and he was today,” Postecoglou said about Carter-Vickers postmatch. “You could see his fatigue towards the end, but again it was great for him to get a goal as a reward for his efforts.”
Carter-Vickers continued his impressive campaign for Celtic, which leads the SPFL table by nine points over rivals Rangers. The Glasgow-based club will face Hibernian on March 18 in its final match this month ahead of the FIFA International break.