2019-01-26: Celtic 3-0 Hamilton, SP

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Celtic

• 29Bain
• 23Lustig
• 35Ajer
• 32Benkovic
• 3Izaguirre
• 8Brown
• 42McGregor
• 73Johnston Substituted for Forrest at 63'minutes

• 17Christie Substituted for Bitton at 78'minutes
• 11Sinclair
• 30Weah Substituted for Burke at 63'minutes

Substitutes

• 1Gordon
• 5Simunovic
• 6Bitton
• 15Hayes
• 25Burke
• 49Forrest
• 52Henderson

Hamilton

• 23Fulton
• 2McGowan
• 4Gordon
• 6Kilgallon
• 46SowahBooked at 31mins
• 3McMann
• 12Taiwo Substituted for Gogic at 11'minutes

• 25MartinBooked at 45mins
• 22Andreu Substituted for Keatings at 70'minutes
• 7Imrie Booked at 82mins
• 30Boyd Substituted for Mimnaugh at 78'minutes

Substitutes

• 8Davies
• 10Keatings
• 13Gogic
• 17Penny
• 20Marsden
• 21Want
• 33Mimnaugh

Referee:
Alan Muir
Attendance:
58,264

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Possession
Home69%
Away31%

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Home25
Away3

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Home14
Away1

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Home13
Away3

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Home9
Away11

Articles

Celtic 3 – 0 Hamilton: League leaders increase lead after seeing off Accies

Callum McGregor scores for Celtic. Pic: SNS/Rob Casey

Andrew Smith

Published: 16:52 Saturday 26 January 2019
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/celtic/celtic-3-0-hamilton-league-leaders-increase-lead-after-seeing-off-accies-1-4862960

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The birthday gifts weren’t in short supply for Brendan Rodgers this afternoon. On the occasion of the Celtic manager turning 46-years-old, they even came from an unexpected source.
The Irishman talked with incredible warmth about Hamilton keeper Ryan Fulton, a player he had on the books at Liverpool. The honeyed words after a day with real sting for the 22-year-old were akin to offering up an “oh, you really needn’t have” on receiving a present the giver ought to be embarrassed over.
This was the case for poor Fulton as Celtic produced a functional victory that allowed them to stretch their lead at the top of the Premiership to three points ahead of playing their game in hand on Wednesday, when they will entertain St Johnstone.
Rodgers made much of the Hamilton keeper’s saves early on – a couple of them fine reflex blocks – as the home side struggled to really pull the Lanarkshire club out of shape despite incessant pressing. However, Martin Canning was left to rue that his team’s thwarting of Celtic for almost the entire first half ended up counting for nothing because of two Fulton fumbles that could not be excused.
Rodgers drew a veil over the first of these, generously, but there ought to have been no danger for the relegation-threatened Hamilton when Callum McGregor swung in a low drive from the edge of the area. Fulton was right behind it, and then he wasn’t, the Celtic midfielder acknowledging there had been a touch before the ball took on the properties of a giant jellied eel in the gloves of the keeper as it slid out of his hands before squirting through his legs. In the 78th minute, Fulton was even more at fault as a nothing chip into the box from Michael Lustig out on the right popped out of his hands and bounced into the path of the following-up Ryan Christie, who kneed the ball in from a couple of yards.
The clincher came only four minutes after Kristoffer Ajer had been required to use his giraffe-like limbs to slide in and nick the ball from the toe of Steven Boyd just as forward had found himself free in on Scott Bain, who was preferred to Craig Gordon for a third successive game.
“That would have made it 1-1 with 15 to 20 minutes to go. They go straight up the park, we make a mistake and it’s 2-0, game done,” Canning said bitterly. “‘Who would be a goalkeeper? I thought Ryan made five or six real good saves in the game. Unfortunately for him the couple of mistakes he made he got punished for.”
Rodgers had no interest in piling on the misery to former charge Fulton. “He kept the score down,” he said. “ He was maybe even unlucky with the second one as well because the pitch is a wee bit bobbly and it just popped up in front of him.”
There were uneven elements to Celtic’s third home successive without conceding a goal in the past eight days – and their eighth in 11 home league games. None would be entitled to concern the Celtic manager, who started Timothy Weah in place of fellow loanee Oliver Burke up front. The US international couldn’t extended his scoring streak to three consecutive outings in his first full appearance, failing to capitalise on a one-on-one with Fulton in the early stages.
The player who did find the net for a third straight match was Scott Sinclair. He did so by burying a downward header from a Lustig cross to tie-up the scoring two minutes from normal time. The strike took his tally to eight goals in seven games and 13 in all for the season. The potency appears to be returning to the play of a performers whose belief seemed blunted in the early stages of the campaign.
“You see in his body language, the aggression in his game. He made a great run in the first half only for Ryan to make a brilliant save,” said Rodgers. “I’ve known him for years though, and while he doesn’t always play well, his consistency has been excellent these last few months and he’ll always score you a goal. You see his confidence is at a high level just now.”
Neither the confidence nor the staying power of fellow scoring McGregor has ever been in question. Yesterday was his 47th outing of the season, with the midfielder appearing in every available game for club and country. Rodgers accepted the point will come wherein he has to rest the 25-year-old, but that it might not come soon.
McGregor’s appetite for the game means he isn’t counting down the days till that occurs. “You want to keep playing. If there comes a time when your legs are going to fall off, then you take a wee breather,” he said. “I feel good, like I’m getting fitter. We’ve just had that wee break in Dubai as well, so you’re coming back fresh. I just want to keep playing and trying to help the team win. It’s a good achievement, when you sit back and look at it from maybe where you have come from to now [when] you are a big part of the team.”

BBC
By Jonathan Sutherland
BBC Scotland at Celtic Park
•
• From the section Scottish Premiership
• 188

Ryan Fulton had a mixed day – a series of saves and two costly errors
Celtic moved three points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership, helped by two goalkeeping howlers from Hamilton Academical's Ryan Fulton.
The former Liverpool youth had denied the reigning champions with a series of first-half saves.
But Fulton allowed a Callum McGregor drive to slip through his legs.
Then, after the break, a McGregor cross bounced off his chest and Ryan Christie was on hand to tap home before Scott Sinclair headed a late third.
Hamilton had lost their last eight meetings with Celtic – and their previous six visits to the Scottish champions' home – and, despite some stubborn resistance, they at no point looked like ending that trend.
As Accies suffered their fifth consecutive away defeat, Brendan Rodgers' side notched up the same number of home wins since losing to RB Salzburg – their only Celtic Park reverse this season.
• Reaction and match as it happened
• Brown future unclear after Celtic talks
Mixed bag for goalkeeper Fulton
If third-bottom Hamilton were to have avoided an expected defeat, they would have needed a hero. It looked like it may have been Fulton.
He made half a dozen or so decent saves in the first half as Celtic peppered their opponents' goal with shot after shot.
The standout save came from Sinclair. The winger drove into the box and fired off a shot that Fulton brilliantly touched on to the crossbar.
But football can be a cruel game and, after all his good work, the keeper would be undone by his own bad mistake.
McGregor fired in a shot from long range that looked like it would be comfortably taken, but this time the man in the Accies goal fumbled and the ball trundled between his legs and into the net.
On the balance of chances, the goal was deserved for Celtic, albeit they never really hit top gear.
There was more agony for Hamilton as Tony Andreu poked his shot wide when handed a chance to equalise on the stroke of half-time.
Celtic's dominance would continue in the second half, but they were wasteful and they almost paid the price when Steven Boyd drove through the middle and his shot was diverted just wide by goalkeeper Scott Bain.
Another moment to forget for Fulton would decide the outcome when he spilled McGregor's cross and it fell kindly for Christie.
Sinclair put the icing on Rodgers' birthday cake – the manager today turned 46 – with a clinical header.
As you were at top and bottom – analysis
A group of Celtic fans unfurled a banner calling on the club board to back Rodgers or risk losing him.
But the manager – before the match – was keen to stress there was nothing in any speculation of a fallout between himself and the club hierarchy.
On Friday, he had also said he would be happy to go with the players he has got.
Nevertheless, as January draws to a close, attention will focus on what business – if any – Celtic do in the transfer market.
On the field, a double-header against St Johnstone is next on the agenda – at home on Wednesday then away on Sunday.
Next up for Hamilton is a cut-throat relegation battle next weekend at home to Dundee, who remain a point behind after their 1-0 defeat at home to Motherwell.
'It was important to win well'
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers said: "I am very pleased [with the performance]. It was important for us to win, and to win well and again I thought it was another good game for us.
"The pitch is obviously a bit slower with the issues it has so that slows our game a fraction, but I thought a lot of our combination play and the structure of our game against this kind of team, was very pleasing."
Hamilton boss Martin Canning said of Ryan Fulton: "That's the life of a young goalkeeper. For a large part of that game he was brilliant, he made so many good saves. But unfortunately for him when you make mistakes as a goalkeeper it will usually cost a goal.
"He's got to make sure his mentality is right and he gets on with it because he showed for a large part of that game how good a goalkeeper he is."