DARREN JACKSON's penalty six minutes from the end brought Hibernian a replay that seemed beyond them in the Scottish Cup fourth round game at Easter Road last night.

He himself was tackled by Malky Mackay during a scramble in the Celtic area and Celtic's punishment was no more than their poor second half performance deserved.

There was some alarm that such an important match should be played in a gale on a sloping sodden pitch which had to pass a referee's inspection two hours before kick off. But both sides produced a measure of excitement, if not a jamboree of virtuosity.

The return of Andreas Thom to the Celtic side after an absence of a month testified to the visitors' pre match selection problems, with their leading scorer Jorge Cadete away on international duty with Portugal.

The German showed pace and intelligence to bother a team that had conceded 13 goals in their three league meetings with Celtic. Number 14 arrived after 16 minutes.

A promising move, in which Paolo Di Canio and Thom were the prime forces, seemed to have broken down when Phil O'Donnell worked hard to regain possession. Having done so, he played the ball to Pierre Van Hooydonk outside the area and surged forward for the return.

The big Dutchman's pass allowed O'Donnell to take the ball in his stride and, instead of cutting it back from the right, he drove it low past Jim Leighton from 10 yards.

Hibernian, who were missing Willie Miller and Pat McGinlay through suspension and were forced to field Darren Jackson when less than fully fit, made a number of threatening approaches up the slope but lacked conviction in front of goal.

David Elliot's wild drive, high and wide, and Kevin Harper's failure to control Darren Jackson's perceptive pass - the ball running straight to Stewart Kerr - were good examples.

Celtic looked the more dangerous, therefore, and Thom should have scored a second soon after the opener. Van Hooydonk played the ball inside from the right and the German was suddenly looking only at Leighton from 10 yards. His left foot sent the ball way over the bar.

Generally, however, Jamie McQuilken kept Di Canio on a tight rein and Celtic's main source of attacking inventiveness was choked. McQuilken even allowed himself to break free of the Italian and once found himself at the heart of a promising move. Darren Jackson played a perceptive ball to him, unattended on the left, but his hesitation allowed Mackay and Alan Stubbs to close in.

Jackson himself had a half chance when the wind seemed to wrong foot Stubbs. The ball dropped at his feet, 25 yards from goal, but he lobbed the ball too high.

Riskily Celtic seemed happy simply to hang on to what they had. They paid the penalty and will have to do it all again tomorrow week before they can set up the Old Firm quarter final.