Celtic weathered the storm of recent weeks with a relatively comfortable win over Partick Thistle at Firhill in the Betfred League Cup.

There was a brief flirtation with anxiety when Andrea Mbuyi-Mutombo cancelled out Leigh Griffiths’ opener in the second period, but Celtic’s response was swift with Moussa Dembele and Tom Rogic easing any concerns.

There were a number of changes made to Celtic’s starting XI with Emilio Izaguirre back in the starting line-up for the first time since returning to the fold.

Cristian Gamboa – who claimed the two impressive second-half assists - took over from Mikael Lustig at right-back while Mikey Johnstone was given a starting jersey.

Rogic was first to threaten Thistle after Griffiths has teed him up but his effort was saved by Cammy Bell. The Aussie midfielder came close again shortly after when a Griffiths corner was only partially cleared by the Jags defence, but his effort was deflected wide for another corner which ultimately came to nothing.

Izaguirre and Scott Sinclair combined after Jack Hendry had supplied the Honduran internationalist, but Thistle were able to recover ground and crowd out Griffiths after Sinclair’s initial cross had rebounded.

The goal seemed inevitable and as the game approached the 20-minute mark, it came. Sinclair was the architect of the goal, skipping through from the left and cutting the ball across from the unmarked Griffiths to net his 99th goal for Celtic.

Johnston should have added a second after a fine little dink over the top of the Thistle defence from Rogic put him through but he couldn’t quite get control of the ball and the chance was lost. Johnstone came close again after some good work from Gamboa set him up but Bell was equal to the attempt.

Ntcham clipped the crossbar with a dipping long range effort as they came moved towards the interval but Thistle really should have been reduced to ten men after Jack Storer’s lunge on Scott Brown.

He got off with a yellow rather than a red and there was a further sting in the tale as a lapse in concentration gave Thistle a lifeline. Mutombo low drive eluded Scott Bain to give Thistle a way back into a game that Celtic ought to have put to bed long before.

The belief of the hosts lasted barely three minutes before Dembele out Celtic back in front. Gamboa’s cross seemed to have been hit too hard but was kneed into the net by the Frenchman.

It did not take long for Celtic to twist the screw. James Forrest picked out Gamboa with a superb pass and the full-back was swift as he darted down the flank to collect it. His subsequent cross was rifled into the net by Rogic as Celtic eased towards their 19th successive cup win under Brendan Rodgers.