Celtic vs Hamilton Academical. Scottish Premiership.
Celtic ParkAttendance54,685.
Monday 27 February 2017 10:19, UK
Moussa Dembele scored twice as Celtic extended their unbeaten domestic run this season to 32 games with a 2-0 win over Hamilton.
The 20-year-old striker prevented a nervy half-time team-talk by finding the top corner just before the break (45) to put the Scottish Premiership leaders ahead against their lowly opposition.
Dembele then added another from the penalty spot (59) to move to within one strike of the 30-goal mark and ensure Celtic maintained their 24-point advantage over second-placed Aberdeen as they motor towards a sixth successive title.
Meanwhile Accies, who face Aberdeen on Tuesday before meeting other top-six sides Hearts, Rangers and St Johnstone in the coming weeks, face a tough fight for survival.
Rodgers continues to tweak his side and made three changes, with midfielder Stuart Armstrong, right-back Cristian Gamboa and centre-back Erik Sviatchenko restored at the expense of Mikael Lustig, Jozo Simunovic and Liam Henderson.
Martin Canning found his side bottom of the table for the first time this season after Inverness' win over Rangers on Friday night and he brought in Grant Gillespie and former academy player Steven Boyd, with Craig Watson and Eamonn Brophy dropping to the bench.
Rodgers had called for protection for his players from referees after a couple of recent high-profile fouls.
The Hoops boss found himself having to make a change after only nine minutes when midfielder James Forrest was crunched by a Danny Redmond tackle two minutes earlier. Having failed to respond to treatment the Hoops midfielder was replaced Gary Mackay-Steven.
Celtic found the going tough as winger Scott Sinclair came close with a 25-yard drive midway through the first half as the ball flew just over.
Moments later, in a rare Hamilton counter, wide-man Dougie Imrie sliced his left-footed drive wide after being set up by Darian McKinnon.
However, the home side should have taken the lead in the 31st minute after a Kieran Tierney cross had provided an open goal for Armstrong, but from three yards out the midfielder somehow hit the bar.
Accies must have thought they were getting all the way to the interval unscathed, but with seconds of the half remaining Dembele stepped away from former Celt Massimo Donati and from the edge of the box curled a right-footed shot over Hamilton keeper Garry Woods to bring Celtic Park to its feet.
The Frenchman almost got another at the start of the second half when he ran on to a Tierney cross but was denied by a blocking Accies foot for a fruitless corner.
However, after Donati fouled Tierney inside the box in the 59th minute as the defender drove towards goal, Dembele thrashed in the penalty.
Sinclair had the ball in the net from a Mackay-Steven pass but the offside flag was up before Dembele received an ovation as he was replaced by Griffiths, back after another niggling calf injury.
Celtic cruised the final stages looking for a third - albeit Celtic keeper Craig Gordon made a fine injury-time save from Accies substitute Eamonn Brophy - but content in the end with another perfunctory victory.
