Hamilton 1-2 Celtic: Deila's men close gap on Aberdeen

Celtic closed the gap between them and leaders Aberdeen to one point as they came from behind to beat Hamilton 2-1 in the Scottish Premiership.

Having failed to take full advantage of the Pittodrie side's loss at Inverness last week when they could only draw with Hearts, it seemed Ronny Deila's men might slip up again.

But having fallen a goal down early at New Douglas Park, they ground out a win instead and after being five points adrift of Derek McInnes' team just over a week ago, they are now right behind them.

This match came a day short of a year since Hamilton's 1-0 win over Celtic at Parkhead, their first victory against them since 1989.

They got off to the perfect start as they looked to mark the anniversary with another victory as they went in front with less than four minutes gone.

Dedryck Boyata, already with two own goals to his credit this term, was caught out by Gramoz Kurtaj on the right flank.

German Kurtaj then burst into the penalty box and drilled low across Craig Gordon to give his side an early lead.

Celtic responded positively, with Emilio Izaguirre's shot palmed away strongly by Michael McGovern before Nir Bitton shot wide.

Deila's men dominated the more time went on and they finally scored a deserved leveller after 26 minutes.

Saidy Janko was fouled on the right by Lucas Tagliapietra and when Leigh Griffiths sent in a deep free-kick, Boyata made amends for his earlier error by side-footing a volley in from close range.

Ali Crawford tried to catch out Gordon with a free-kick as Hamilton looked to edge in front again but his effort dropped the wrong side of the post.

He was left ruing that miss when Griffiths put Celtic ahead with their second goal in five minutes just moments later.

Janko's cross was deflected but the in-form striker was not put off and timed his jump perfectly, craning his neck to send a lovely cushioned header into the far corner beyond McGovern.

Hamilton took until the second half to look like possibly restoring parity once again, with Crawford pulling an attempt over and Grant Gillespie shot just wide.

Back came Celtic, who took advantage of Crawford's mistake in possession to burst forward through Bitton and Tom Rogic, only for Kris Commons to shoot woefully off target.

Crawford then drew a good save from Gordon with a curling effort, which he pushed over the bar when it looked like it might dip in.

Both sides huffed and puffed in the closing stages and Celtic looked more likely to add to their lead than be pegged back.

In the end, neither happened but that will not have bothered Deila, whose players are now applying greater pressure on Aberdeen at the top of the table.