RONNY Deila warned Celtic fans about endangering safety and the club’s reputation after smoke bombs were thrown during his team’s 3-0 William Hill Scottish Cup fourth-round win at Stranraer yesterday.
A double from Leigh Griffiths and Carlton Cole’s first goal for the Parkhead side eased them into tonight’s fifth-round draw at Hampden.
However, just before the start of the match smoke bombs were thrown from the terrace behind the goal that housed Celtic supporters, with one landing on the pitch while play was under way.
Celtic have a Uefa charge pending after fans set off flares during their Europa League clash with Fenerbahce in Turkey last month. The governing body have punished the club over supporter incidents a number of times in recent years.
The manager said: “We don’t want this. It’s something that is making a bad reputation for the club. It is absolutely something we need to get stopped. It is not positive for anybody and we, as a club, don’t want to have anything to do with this.
“It’s not my job but I’m a part of this club. We’ve talked about it a lot and we have to get it away from this club.
“I’m not from here so I don’t know what kind of sanctions we could face. But what I can say is that it’s important we follow the rules – and that people are safe when they come to football matches. We have football as a cultural thing that everybody can be part of. Safety has to be the most important thing in every game we play.”
Griffiths’ brace took his tally to 22 for the season. Deila said: “He is my dream striker. He is important for us, he scores goals and works really hard for the team so I am very happy to have him back [from injury].”
On Cole, he added: “I think Carlton did OK. He played well together with Leigh. They scored three between them, so I can’t be very irritated by that.”
Deila added: “You can see Carlton is experienced and knows how to score and be a striker.”
Former West Ham striker Cole praised his prolific partner Griffiths. He said: “A win is very pleasing, as it was for me personally to get on the scoresheet.
“Griff played brilliantly and it’s great to be alongside a striker who just thinks about goals.
“Griff has been amazing. He’s got 21 or 22 goals already – I’d love to have that kind of return. He’s a top goalscorer and a great asset for the club.”
Stranraer manager Brian Reid praised the performance of 18-year-old goalkeeper Max Currie, who had a fine game standing in for the injured David McGurn.
Reid said: “This will do his confidence the world of good, he made some great saves.
“I was delighted for the boy and for all the players. I was pleased with the work ethic but disappointed to lose the goals we did.
“It would have been good to have kept it 0-0 at half-time and see what happened from there.”
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