Celtic vs Hamilton Academical. Scottish Premiership.
Celtic ParkAttendance45,659.
Wednesday 20 January 2016 08:54, UK
Celtic moved six points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership with a resounding 8-1 victory over Hamilton Accies.
Mikael Lustig, Nir Bitton and Tom Rogic all scored in the opening 10 minutes at Celtic Park before Leigh Griffiths hit two more goals before the break.
Griffiths completed his treble a minute after James Forrest got on the scoresheet and Callum McGregor added the eighth after Eamonn Brophy netted for Hamilton.
The opening goal arrived on four minutes when Stuart Armstrong delivered a free-kick from Celtic's left flank and Lustig found space inside the six-yard box to send a glancing header into the net at the back post.
Bitton doubled the advantage on nine minutes when he took a square pass from McGregor and struck a thunderous shot from distance which swerved away from Michael McGovern into the goalkeeper's left corner.
Within 60 seconds the Hoops increased their lead as the ball spun to Rogic and he turned away from Darian MacKinnon on the 18-yard line to shoot past McGovern with the aid of a slight deflection off Michael Devlin.
Gary Mackay-Steven was the architect of the fourth goal on 22 minutes with a driving run which ended with the winger going between Grant Gillespie and Lucas Tagliapietra to lay a pass to his left for Griffiths to dispatch his low shot into the far corner from eight yards.
Celtic struck again 11 minutes before the break when the Accies defence switched off as Rogic kept the ball alive at the goal-line and only Griffiths was alert to meet the low delivery and clip over the line from three yards.
The home side continued to press after the break and Forrest (53) combined with fellow substitute Scott Allan to place the ball into the far corner from 12 yards.
Griffiths took his tally for the season to 27 when he closed down Devlin to block his clearance before the striker lobbed the ball over the advancing McGovern.
Brophy (73) netted a consolation for Accies when he showed great composure to slide the ball past Craig Gordon when clear through on goal.
Celtic completed the rout in the dying seconds when the industrious McGregor beat McGovern with a dipping shot from just outside the box.
