Stranraer 0 Celtic 3

Leigh Griffiths underlined his importance to Celtic again with a double in their 3-0 William Hill Scottish Cup fourth-round win over Ladbrokes League One side Stranraer at Stair Park.

The 25-year-old striker came off the bench to score a late Ladbrokes Premiership winner against Partick Thistle last week after his recovery from a calf injury and, in returning to the starting line-up, he opened the scoring in the 18th minute for a 21st goal of the season.

Fellow striker Carlton Cole, who started for the first time since signing in October, headed in his first Hoops goal in the 42nd minute to give the visitors a comfortable interval lead and Griffiths added a third in the 84th minute.

The early stages were, as expected, frantic.

In the 10th minute Cole went down in a packed Stranraer penalty box but referee Andrew Dallas waved play on, the decision seeming less important to the visitors when Griffiths took a pass from Callum McGregor and steered the ball past 18-year-old Max Currie, who had a fine game as replacement for the injured David McGurn.

The goal eased any nerves the Parkhead side may have had.

After Griffiths fired over from the edge of the box in 24 minutes, Currie did well to tip a chip from Kris Commons over the bar for a corner.

The young keeper made two great saves from Griffiths in quick succession but a minute later Celtic midfielder Nir Bitton stood a cross up from the by-line for Cole to head in from a yard out.

With a two-goal lead Celtic went into the second half relaxed.

Five minutes after the break Scott Robertson did well to hook the ball away from the line after Hoops midfielder Stefan Johansen had forced the ball past Currie after driving into the Stranraer box.

The Blues gave no indication that they could rescue the tie.

Willie Gibson and Andrew Stirling came on for Sam McCloskey and Mark McGuigan respectively on the hour mark but in the 66th minute Currie again was called upon to deny Griffiths, tipping a powerful shot over for a corner, which came to nothing.

Cole was replaced by Scott Allan, Tom Rogic came on for Commons and Tyler Blackett took over from Kieran Tierney, before Hoops keeper Logan Bailly, in for the suspended Craig Gordon, had to react quickly to save Craig Malcolm's close-range header following a Stranraer corner.

In the 80th minute a slip from defender Scott Rumsby let Griffiths in again but he shot straight at Currie, who then snatched the ball away from the feet of Allan as he tried to round him.

But with six minutes remaining, Griffiths raced through the middle of the Stranraer defence to hammer in his second past Currie, who got a cheer from the home fans when named as man of the match.