Accies brushed aside as Celts eye Rennes

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International breaks are never fun, particularly if your a Scotland fan... So it was good to get back to proper football as Celtic faced local rivals Hamilton in what can be a tricky test on a very poor surface.

Celtic gave a debut to Mohammed Elyounoussi while Odsonne Edouard started up front after his midweek heroics for France U21's.

Celtic Starting line up​

• 67Forster
• 33Elhamed
• 35Ajer
• 2Jullien
• 23Bolingoli-Mbombo
• 8Brown
• 42McGregor
• 49Forrest
• 17Christie
• 27Elyounoussi
• 22Edouard

Hamilton Starting line up

1Fon Williams
3McMann
26Stubbs
24Easton
5Fjørtoft
21Want
10Alston
13Gogic
28Smith
7Collar
9Oakley

Kick Off​

Accies manager Brian Rice hoped strength in numbers and barricading his backline with five defenders, who were protected by a layer of four midfielders would stop a rampant Celtic but even with such a defensive line up, it was unlikely they would repel the Hoops for long.

The attempt to stop Celtic lasted less than four minutes, though, as the champions chiselled a way through. A neat Odsonne Edouard lay-off set Elyounoussi free down the left and his low cross was expertly tucked home at the near post by Forrest - his seventh goal of an excellent season so far.
But what looked like a landslide soon turned into a trickle as Celtic failed to cement their superiority with further goals. Like his team, Elyounoussi the £17m winger on loan from Southampton began impressively then lost his way.



Despite possession stats of 73% in favour of the visitors, home keeper Owain Fon Williams' gloves went untouched until he produced a terrific save to tip Forrest's thudding left-foot drive on to the underside of his bar and away to safety.

Celtic one-touch passing and combination play was easy on the eye but relatively simple to repel as Hamilton kept themselves in the game.
The hosts were in nosebleed territory when Blair Alston mustered their first shot at goal just shy of the 40-minute mark, the midfielder's hooked drive over his shoulder landing straight in Fraser Forster's arms.

But they improved markedly in the second half, fraying Celtic nerves with a series of raids forward. Alex Gogic nodded wastefully wide inside the box when a free-kick was floated on to his head and Alston was only a couple of yards too high with an effort from the edge of the box after a surging run from Adrian Beck, on for his debut.



Marios Ogkmpoe also dragged wide from an angle, while Celtic substitute Vakoun Bayo flashed a header straight at Fon Williams.
Celtic were made to sweat until 20 seconds from the end of added time, when Ogkmpoe narrowly failed to connect with Scott McMann's driven ball across goal, but ultimately Accies' spadework was all in vain and Celtic ended up running out comfortable winners.

Full Time - Hamilton 0-1 Celtic​

It was a good win for Neil Lennon's men, while Celtic looked in control through out only having a one goal lead wasn't ideal and it only takes one mistake or bad decision for the game to end up a draw. Next up for the Hoops is Europa league action as we travel to France to take on Rennes, a team who we drew 1-1 agains't in Lennon's last spell here in the same competition!


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