Under-fire McLeish vows to 'keep fighting'

Celtic ousted holders Rangers from the League Cup with a 2-0 victory over their rivals in Wednesday night's quarter-final to increase the pressure on under-fire manager Alex McLeish.

Shaun Maloney hammered a spectacular 30-metre shot into the top right-hand corner after 27 minutes to open the scoring in a ragged first half at Parkhead.

Celtic gained the upperhand after Rangers' Greek defender Sotirios Kyrgiakos was sent off for a second booking when he applauded a foul against him in the 66th minute.

The home side secured their place in the last four with eight minutes left as Bobo Balde challenged Rangers' German goalkeeper Stefan Klos for a ball into the box and as they collided and fell it bounced off the back of the keeper and into his own net.

A defiant McLeish said: "I will keep fighting for as long as it takes, I don't quit easily.

"It's tough at the moment but I'll keep soldiering on and believe we can do it (turn it around)."

Asked if it was a comfortable victory against 10 men, Celtic manager Gordon Strachan told the BBC: "If you ask them (the players) if it was an easy game then they'll lynch you!

"I thought it was a very hard game. The atmosphere does make it difficult and I thought we stayed above that.

"What you expect in an Old Firm game with tackles and nervousness, well, we stayed above that. The result was foremost."

Maloney was understandably delighted with his first-half strike after Strachan had encouraged him to shoot more.

"It was a massive thing in a game this size," he said. "To score a goal, especially the way we played in the first half when we struggled or I certainly did, was good. My manager has been giving me a bit of stick for not shooting enough.

"I'm quite pleased with the result in the end. There was not much between the teams and until they got a player sent off it could have gone either way."

Celtic join Livingston, Dunfermline Athletic and Motherwell in the semi-final draw on Saturday, Nov. 19.

On Tuesday Premier League basement side Livingston beat Inverness Caledonian Thistle 2-1 after extra time, Dunfermline beat Hibernian 3-0 and Motherwell dismissed Aberdeen 1-0.