Samaras on target in Hoops romp

The striker rounded off the fifth-round rout when he came off the bench late on, replacing Scott McDonald who had already claimed a double.

Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink was also on the scoresheet and even Gary Caldwell helped himself to a rare goal, with Jamie Hamill's second-half header for the home side doing little to take the shine off Celtic's emphatic win.

Killie had an opportunity to put Celtic under pressure early on when Willie Gibson's corner broke to Garry Hay but his shot lacked power and was easily cleared. Then it was one-way traffic in the other direction.

Aiden McGeady was the first to try his luck with a 25-yard drive which went well wide of the target. Celtic cranked up the pressure and McDonald forced a superb point-blank save from Alan Combe, but the Killie goalkeeper was powerless to prevent the striker from opening the scoring seconds later.

Paul Caddis collected Shunsuke Nakamura's pass on the right wing and whipped in a low cross to McDonald, who rifled home from close range with 22 minutes on the clock.

Celtic claimed their second of the day just seven minutes after the restart when Nakamura's corner was flicked on by Massimo Donati and Caldwell connected powerfully to leave the net bulging with a header from a few yards out.

Vennegoor of Hesselink then helped himself to a goal six minutes later. McGeady's pass split the Killie defence and found the big Dutchman unmarked and with plenty of time to pick his spot and he duly fired a well-struck shot beyond Combe's reach.

Kilmarnock gave themselves hope of a comeback when Hamill nodded home from Danny Invincibile's cross after 65 minutes, but the joy was short-lived when McDonald pounced on Vennegoor of Hesselink's lay-off to bury a firm shot from 12 yards a minute later.

With the tie over as a contest, the Celtic fans lustily chanted the name of Samaras and Strachan obliged by throwing the on-loan Manchester City striker into the action for the remaining 20 minutes. He replaced McDonald and instantly endeared himself to the supporters behind both goals by marking his debut with a neat left-footed strike.