Hamilton 0-3 Celtic

Celtic successfully negotiated, literally, the perfect storm, both on and off the pitch to emerge with yet another 3 points ensuring the bandwagon towards a 6th title in a row rolls on.

Today was a real test of mettle for this Celtic team. Conditions were less than ideal- cold, torrential downpours of rain mixed in with a swirling wind, this was not for the faint of heart. Add that to an unforgiving artificial surface and it could easily spell disaster for a Celtic team on a long run of consecutive games.

You could certainly see in the first half the way the pitch and the conditions affected the play. A lot of Celtics play was centred on the long ball to Griffiths, I felt Sinclair and Roberts really struggled to get in the game off their wings with poor first touches (though the conditions hampered their respective games) and in Sinclairs case what I thought was a lack of match sharpness.

Celtic were menacing early doors with their set pieces, the great Dane at centre back rising to send a powerful header that looked destined for the net but for the quick reactions of the man on the post to deflect the ball onto the crossbar. From another inswinging corner shortly after, the ball was skidded in towards the near post, Armstrong flicked the ball on with what appeared to be his back/shoulder and Woods made a smart reaction save to prevent the ball reaching the far corner of the net.

Other than that it had been a poor game of football with Hamilton struggling to muster shots on goal although it must be said if they maintained a bit more composure they could have made more of some situations on the break where Celtic had committed men forward.

The goal to break the deadlock would come before half time and it was Griffiths who would strike the telling blow, peeling off his man to get on the end of a threaded Callum McGregor through ball. He took a touch to control the ball into his path and then rifled a shot low and hard in the gap between the keeper and his near post. The initiative had been seized.

Griffiths would not return for the second half so very much the perfect way to sign off. Celtic began the second half with a greater sense of purpose, the rain appeared to somewhat calm but Celtic were soon seeing red as McGregor picked up a second booking for what appeared to be a high boot on first glance, chasing a lost cause off the field of play. On reflection he had actually brought his boot down long before he made any contact with the Hamilton player. It was a poor decision from Collum, he just seemed to guess at what had happened from the reaction of the player.

I would say that I was annoyed at McGregor for picking up his first booking after 25 mins (I hate seeing midfielders/defenders pick up early bookings) but he could count himself incredibly unlucky to suffer his fate at the hands of Collums imagination. Another challenge had presented itself to Celtic and the application of all 10 men on the park would be key to holding this lead- new questions would need to be asked of Rogers team. Rogers responded by taking off the ineffectual Roberts and shoring up the midfield with Biton but the punchline would be delivered in style by the man who has displaced him in the Celtic team.

Good work from Dembele and Sinclair enabled the Frenchman to lay the ball off to Armstrong 25 yards from goal on the right hand side just outside the box. He took aim and arrowed an unstoppable drive into the keepers top right hand corner. A moment of real quality and Celtic never looked back from there. Celtic were organised and I would suggest that Hamilton struggled to become the dominant team they were expected to be with the man advantage.

Celtic were able to exploit the greater emphasis on Hamiltons attacking play with venomous counter attacks with the likes of Sinclair, Dembele, the superb Gamboa and Izaguirre providing Celtic with that powerful counter punch. The welcome sight of James Forrest in the hoops was upon us on 75 minutes and he helped deliver the knockout punch with a classic run to the byline and a superb cutback for an unmarked Moussa Dembele to divert into the Hamilton goal.

I was shocked and pleasantly surprised by how comfortable we were. I felt we played some good stuff in the second half given the circumstances. There were a couple of Hamilton opportunities which Gordon did well to save to prevent any nervous moments towards the end.

Special mention to Gamboa who relished the occasion and made some important tackles and runs of the ball.

Merry Christmas to all