Cup win was for Jimmy, says delighted Strachan

Celtic 3 Dunfermline 0

The former Hoops winger died last Monday, aged 61, after a long battle with motor neurone disease. Johnstone’s death made a Celtic win at Hampden Park imperative to the thousands of fans who voted him the Parkhead club’s greatest ever player.

Celtic had to wait until just before the break for Maciej Zurawski to open the scoring against the Pars side before securing a comfortable 3-0 victory with late goals from Shaun Maloney and Dion Dublin.

Strachan maintains the sadness at death of the Lisbon Lion turned to smiles at his memory as the game approached and to a determination to win the trophy for him.

He said: “What we’re talking about here is a genius who made you smile on the pitch and chuckle when you thought about him. We had a problem getting over his death, but then we thought about how he played the game and we were full of admiration.

“Then it gets to the stage where everyone starts telling Jimmy Johnstone stories all round Celtic Park, so there was a lot of laughter later on in the week. Jimmy has left that legacy. You can’t really have a game of football, which is a fitting tribute, because he was above everyone else that played on that football field.

“There were bits of the game Jimmy would have loved and the bit at the end he would definitely love - winning the trophy.”

Strachan praised his players for overcoming a Dunfermline side that packed the midfield. He added: “We had to play with patience, move the ball around the pitch so they would eventually tire, which they did.

“We had to have players playing in positions where they couldn’t keep a 4-5-1 with our movement and get in positions to drag out the full-backs and move their centre-backs about. All the pressure was on them with the build-up, we had to win and we did - at times with style and, at times, with patience so we’re pleased with that performance to win a cup final.

“But you also have to remember we had to beat four SPL teams, including Rangers, to win this.”

Strachan reserved special praise for the “fantastic” Japanese midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura.

The Celtic boss said: “He played in areas where they just couldn’t get hold of him and he was brave. Our discipline was great, we took some heavy tackles, which is fine because they’re trying to win a cup, but our reaction to that was to get up and play.”

The Bhoys manager confirmed Roy Keane had suffered a hamstring strain which forced him off on the hour mark but is confident the injury is not too serious.

Strachan said: “It’s at the bottom of his hamstring - just above the knee, which is not as bad.”

Dunfermline manager Jim Leishman bemoaned Celtic’s soft opening goal, which wrecked his plan to stifle the Hoops and try to “sneak a win” later in the game.

The Pars boss said: “It was going great - maybe not creating loads of chances - but we were containing them and that was the game plan. Unfortunately, we lost the goal.”

CELTIC: Boruc, Telfer, Balde, McManus, Wallace, Nakamura, Keane (Dublin 61), Lennon, Maloney, Zurawski, Petrov.

DUNFERMLINE: McGregor, Shields, Scott Wilson, Ross (Donnelly 77), Andy Campbell (Derek Young 62), Mason, Thomson, Daquin (Tarachulski 84), Labonte, Makel, Burchill.

Referee: S Dougal.