Celtic manager Gordon Strachan is hoping there is still more to come from striker Georgios Samaras after the Greece international took his goal tally to nine in six matches in the 4-0 win over Livingston at Parkhead.

Samaras scored twice, one from the spot, as the Hoops eased into the quarter-finals of the Co-operative Insurance Cup with further goals from Glenn Loovens and substitute Scott Brown who had come on for Massimo Donati.

The Parkhead boss is confident the former Manchester City striker's thirst for football knowledge will see him improve as the weeks go on.

"I don't know if he is at the top of his game but I hope he's not," Strachan said.

"He wants to do a lot better. You are talking about a guy who literally can't get enough information.

"When you talk to him, you can tell in his eyes that he wants to do better.

"We do set-plays and you can guarantee that two players will forget but he never forgets anything, he actually tells them where to go so he is listening to everything that we say.

"At the moment he is playing top football, although I think he was helped by a lot of the good players in the team which helps if you are an attacking player.

"But you judge people by the end of their contract, sometimes we get too excited right away and we get too negative right away. We should wait to the end of the season."

Strachan was happy with the way his side followed on from their 3-1 win at Kilmarnock at Rugby Park on Sunday.

He said: "It is easier to get results than performances but the results have been going along with the performances and for a manager that's fantastic.

"It's good for me to watch and I'm sure it's good for the fans to watch because there was a great variation of play and you could have picked three or four players to be man-of-the-match."

Livingston manager Roberto Landi had no qualms about the manner in which his side lost to the SPL champions.

He said: "I am very happy, I am not disappointed. It was a dream but the dream is finished.

"I saw my team play good football. I know the quality of the Celtic player and we suffered in 90 minutes against the physical nature of our opponents.

"It was a good lesson."