Goals from Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, Scott McDonald and Shunsuke Nakamura, playing for the first time since October after recovering from a knee injury, eased the Hoops into a fifth round tie against the winners of the postponed Airdrie versus Kilmarnock game.

Strachan, who suffered a shock 2-1 defeat by Clyde two years ago, was glad to see his side emerge unscathed against the enthusiastic but limited Beanos.

Strachan said: "It was a job that had to be done and it was a job well done and without any real scares which was good.

"It was similar to the Dumbarton game last season, we had a lot of possession and good chances but we were a little bit lacking in concentration at times in the last third, apart from three times when we got the goals.

"It was not an easy game for us or Stirling. There could only be an upset and we tried our best to make sure that there wasn't one

"Stirling must be pleased with themselves.

"When I was at Coventry, Macclesfield came along and said that they were going to enjoy the day but after we beat them 7-0, I had never seen a more dejected bunch of players in my life.

"That never happened so fair play to them and they could walk out of here with their heads held high."

On the away trip in the fifth round, Strachan said: "It is a hard tie away from home."

The Celtic boss was impressed by debutant Andreas Hinkel, the new signing from Sevilla who was voted sponsors' man of the match, and encouraged by the return of Nakamura whose goal revealed his technique had not suffered during his lay-off.

He said: "I was impressed, the coaches were impressed and his team-mates were impressed. He makes us a lot stronger and better balanced.

"It was good to see Shunsuke back. You could see he was rusty but we have a lot of games coming up and had to play him before we play more important games."

One of those games Strachan was referring to was the Old Firm game which takes place at Parkhead on January 23 and the Germany international was also looking forward to his first meeting with the Ibrox side as a Hoops player.

He said: "I look forward to it. It is like the Sevilla versus Real Betis game.

"It will be a great atmosphere and so I will train every day for the game.

"I need more power but we have good coaches at the club and they will have me in form for when the match comes around."

Stirling boss Allan Moore was proud of his part-time players who belied their lowly league position until they ran out of steam in the second half.

He said: "No doubt about it, we gave a good account of themselves.

"You are worried you could get hammered at Parkhead but I thought 3-0 was a wee bit flattering for Celtic.

"We hope this performance puts us in good stead for the league.

"If we had lost 8-0 like the last time we played here in a cup game (in November 2001) then it could have affected our league performances but we can take positives from this game."