Martin O’Neill admitted he was a man on a mission at Fir Park on Saturday amid mounting speculation that Celtic are preparing a move for Tawanda Maswanhise.
Motherwell’s star man scored the only goal of the Scottish Cup tie against Ross County, the 23-year-old’s third in as many games since returning from the Africa Cup of Nations with Zimbabwe.
With Celtic having only signed Julian Araujo on loan from Bournemouth this month, O’Neill has made it clear that he expects significant business to be done soon.
And after his side progressed to a fifth-round home tie against Dundee with a low key 2-0 win over Auchinleck Talbot, O’Neill didn’t dismiss the suggestion that Maswanhise was on his radar.
‘That was a football mission,’ he said. ‘That was a part of my job to watch. I went there after training with (Mark) Fotheringham.
‘I would like to say I enjoyed the game. You’re testing me to the utmost…’
Tawanda Maswanhise scored the only goal as Motherwell defeated Ross County on Saturday
Celtic manager Martin O’Neill was in the Fir Park stands to watch the Zimbabwean international
Maswanhise has scored 15 goals for Motherwell in a thoroughly impressive season so far
Asked if there were individuals currently playing in the Premiership who might fit the bill, O’Neill replied: ‘There are players here capable of playing at a higher level.’
Reiterating that he was hopeful of at least one player arriving before next Sunday’s blockbuster clash against Hearts, he said: ‘We are very hopeful we will get someone in before then.’
Pressed if there was a need for more creativity as well as the No9 he clearly craved, O’Neill said: ‘Brilliant. Absolutely. We are very hopeful we will get someone in.’
Celtic struggled to see off the challenge of Tommy Sloan’s West of Scotland Premier League side. Johnny Kenny struck on 33 minutes, but O’Neill had to wait until Seb Tounekti’s sumptuous strike with five minutes remaining at Rugby Park to be sure of going through.
‘We weren’t fantastic,’ O’Neill admitted. ‘We had a lot of possession but we weren’t able to break the team down and when we did create chances we missed them.
‘I was delighted with the win. It’s the start of a big week for us.’
Celtic toiled for long periods against Auchinleck but took the lead through Johnny Kenny
O’Neill felt the fact he made 10 changes to the side following the win over Falkirk was a factor in his side struggling in the match.
‘I’m sure of it,’ he said. ‘I probably wasn’t really surprised, but I wanted to change the side around as a couple of players hadn’t played under me who I wanted to see and I did.
‘I think making changes does disrupt the flow of things but we saw that one through and that was good.
‘I think players, when they feel this is a chance for them to play, can get a bit nervous about things.
‘We as a team could do a lot better but we saw it through in the sense we had a lot of possession and the second goal finished it.’
Talbot winger Kyle McAvoy felt the outcome might have been different had the tie been played at Beechwood Park. The Ayrshire club wanted to host Celtic on their own ground but were told by the police and local council that the game would have to be played elsewhere.
O’Neill knows he needs to bolster his squad if Celtic are to challenge for honours this season
‘I think it’s easy to say that now that we’ve played and we’ve done relatively well and defended well,’ he said. ‘But it definitely would have been easier and it would have been a different experience for Celtic.
‘Celtic are used to coming here. I know it’s a plastic surface, they’re used to playing on that.
‘It would have been uncomfortable for them at Beechwood and there’s maybe only four showers and you’re turning them on with a valve. I think that would have been something different for them.’
Talbot boss Tommy Sloan added: ‘I’m very proud. It was a great effort. Our goalkeeper didn’t have too many saves.
‘We’d like to have been more adventurous and tried to threaten their goal more, but I’m not going to greet about it.
‘The effort was fantastic. There are excuses there. We hadn’t a game for four weeks. About five days ago we played a bounce game, closed doors and got a sore one. We lost seven goals. It was a great response.
‘There was a lot of negativity because we were here, but it turned out to be nonsense because they (fans) supported us in numbers as they always do.’
