CELTIC showed against Hibernian on Saturday evening that it doesn’t matter who is in the dugout, when it comes to cup competitions, they just keep grinding out the wins.

Stunning second half goals from James Forrest and Scott Brown at Easter Road gave them their 25th consecutive win in domestic cup football and kept them on track for an historic ‘triple treble’ as new manager Neil Lennon made it two wins from two in the capital this week.

Here are five talking points as Celtic’s relentless march towards silverware rumbled on…

LIFE AFTER RODGERS? IF IT AIN’T BROKE, DON’T FIX IT.

As former Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has been at pains to point out this week following his sudden departure from the club, he left the champions in a pretty good place, and given the short time that Neil Lennon has had to work with the players since taking over on an interim basis, it was no surprise to see that the basic shape of Celtic remained along familiar lines.

There were some tweaks in personnel, mostly down to injury, with Odsonne Edouard playing in behind Oliver Burke to start with, and then James Forrest coming into that number 10 role as Burke was moved out wide to allow Edouard to return to a more comfortable role, and Celtic looked far more effective when this set-up was deployed.

Lennon revealed after the game that the players will be given a couple of days off to rest now and finally have a chance to digest everything that has gone on during a whirlwind of a week, but we may see more of Lennon’s influence on this Celtic outfit once he has a proper chance to work with the players in training this week.

CAN JAMES FORREST BE A NUMBER 10?

As mentioned above, Forrest started out on his familiar beat on the right wing, but it was midway through the first half when he was brought into a central position to play in behind Edouard that he really came alive.

Within seconds, he had found a pocket of space and threaded a brilliant through ball into the path of striker, only for the young forward to stumble at the crucial moment as he tried to round Hibernian goalkeeper Ofir Maciano.

In what was a tight game despite Celtic’s dominance of the ball, it was then Forrest who produced the moment of magic required to finally breach a stubborn Hibs rearguard on the hour as he picked up the scraps after Hibs had failed to clear their lines, sidestepped a challenge and fired a rocket into the top corner from outside of the area.

Forrest’s main strength is obviously his trademark trickery and pace in wide areas, but he showed here that he has the quality to play anywhere along the three that sit behind Celtic’s frontman.

WHAT DO CELTIC DO WITH OLIVER BURKE?

On the face of it, Oliver Burke has everything. Pace, power, and a fair bit of skill into the bargain. But part of Neil Lennon’s thinking on shuffling his front four during the first half must have had as much to do with bringing the likes of Forrest and Edouard into the game as it did with trying to get a tune out of the peripheral Burke.

The on-loan West Brom man started up top, and he had a glorious chance in the opening minutes as he was played in by Edouard only for Marciano to save his effort, but he then disappeared out of the game for a spell. He was subsequently shifted out to the right where, to be fair, he had his moments, most notably in the second half as he burst beyond the Hibs backline and advanced in on goal only to have his heels clipped on the edge of the area by Lewis Stevenson just as he was about to pull the trigger. To compound his frustration, referee Willie Collum remarkably failed to award him the free-kick.

It was rather symptomatic of Burke’s night, and he still looks like a square peg being forced into a round hole – wherever he plays.

CELTIC NEED MORE FROM SCOTT SINCLAIR.

Reports of Sinclair’s diminished influence on Celtic are often countered by his goalscoring record, and with 17 goals so far this term from the left wing, it is hard to argue that he isn’t still an effective threat.

But you only had to watch the body language and then witness what no doubt was some choice language from Celtic left-back Kieran Tierney towards his teammate in the first half to see that he could be doing with stepping up for his team more when they come to difficult venues like Easter Road.

Far too often when Tierney was on the ball he was looking up the wing to see Sinclair hiding behind his marker and failing to show for a pass.

Sinclair is an undoubted talent, and one of the best players in the country when he’s in the mood. Sometimes though, as on Saturday, he simply isn’t.

THUGS CONTINUE TO BLIGHT OUR GAME.

The sight of a Buckfast bottle and then a coin being thrown at Sinclair was appalling to see, and sadly this is not an isolated incident in Scottish football this season.

Thankfully, the projectiles didn’t make contact with the Celtic winger. It doesn’t bear thinking about what might have happened if they had done.

Hopefully the perpetrators can be caught and at the very least, be banned from Easter Road from life. Clubs have to come down heavily on these idiots, and then hopefully the message can get through to them that such behaviour is completely unacceptable.