CELTIC’S dreams of a fourth straight Treble will perhaps have to weather more testing storms in the weeks and months to come, but neither a spirited Clyde outfit nor the gales of Storm Ciara ever threatened to blow those aspirations off course at a wild Broadwood.

Celtic were returning to the scene of a past crime, of course, and Neil Lennon was given an unwelcome reminder of the afternoon where he, Roy Keane et al came a cropper here on Scottish Cup duty as the victorious Clyde team of 2006 were paraded on the pitch prior to kick-off.

For all their huff and puff though, Clyde’s class of 2020 never looked like blowing Celtic down as the visitors clocked up their 33rd consecutive win in domestic cup competitions.

Goals from Oliver Ntcham and Scott Brown prior to the interval and a late strike from substitute Bayo were enough to claim a routine passage into the hat for the quarter-finals, and given that conditions weren’t exactly conducive to smooth sailing and the history for Celtic here, that would probably have satisfied their manager.

Lennon was able to rest the likes of Callum McGregor, Odsonne Edouard and Leigh Griffiths, while Scott Bain took the gloves ahead of number one Fraser Forster. Patryk Klimala was given his first start for Celtic up top, and his first experience of the magic of the Scottish Cup was to be unceremoniously chopped down from behind by Clyde centre-back Scott Rumsby.

It was an encouraging start for the hosts though, and Mark Lamont had a pop at goal that skidded a yard wide via a deflection to offer the home fan some encouragement.

Celtic started to find their rhythm though, and a good combination between James Forrest and Moritz Bauer allowed the latter to cross for Mohamed Elyounoussi to smuggle an effort on goal that keeper David Mitchell smothered.

He had no chance though as the visitors settled any early nerves with the opener just after the quarter hour, with the wind perhaps claiming an assist. Neat play between Elyounoussi and Boli Bolingoli saw the ball fed to Ntcham on the right edge of the area, and the midfielder’s curled effort swirled and swerved its way into the far corner.

Ryan Christie unleashed another effort from distance that rivalled the airspeed of the Norwegian Air flight that crossed the Atlantic in a record four-and-a-half hours yesterday, but the shot blew just a little off course and thundered wide.

Klimala had his first sight of goal as Forrest split the defence to send him in on Mitchell, but the Clyde keeper stood up well and spread himself to block the striker’s effort. The run was an illustration of what we have been told to expect from Klimala, playing on the shoulder and using his pace to strip away from defenders, but he’ll feel he should have done better with his finish.

The home side were trying desperately to stay in the contest at least until half-time, but the second goal that killed the tie arrived as they were undone by a set-piece. Ntcham did well to win a corner on the left which Christie played in towards the near post, where Klimala helped it on to Brown, who held off Barry Cuddihy to prod home from a couple of yards.

It was a question in the second half then of how many Celtic would be able to rack up, although Clyde managed to limit their opportunities to do so as they commendably stuck to their game-plan and remained organised. The game started to resemble an attack versus defence training exercise as Celtic passed the ball around and Clyde seemed happy to simply limit the damage.

There was little goalmouth action to speak of, with Celtic passing up a few opportunities from free-kicks around the box, but creating very little else.

Klimala came off with a little over a quarter of an hour remaining after something of a difficult afternoon, being unable to really show what he can do against the obstacles of the elements and the massed ranks of the home defence. There were some nice touches here and there though and the odd bit of good movement, hinting at the promise of more to come from the young Pole.

At the other end, former Scotland striker David Goodwillie was having an even more frustrating time of it, but he did manage to get a sight of goal from the edge of the box that he dragged wide under pressure.

Bayo, who had replaced Klimala to get a rare run-out, blew the first clear opportunity of the second half with five minutes remaining as he ran in on Mitchell following a clever pass from Christie, but sidefooted tamely into the side-netting, before Christie clipped the top of the bar.

The third goal did arrive in the last minute of normal time though, Bayo making amends by sidefooting Bauer’s low centre into the bottom corner from six yards.