Ronny Deila happy with Celtic's form after European fixtures

Ronny Deila praised Celtic for their Scottish Premiership results following European matches after seeing them beat Hamilton 2-1 at New Douglas Park.

The home side went in front first when the impressive Gramoz Kurtaj broke the deadlock but the reigning champions came back through Dedryck Boyata and Leigh Griffiths to win.

It was the sixth time Celtic have played a league match following a continental game in midweek this season and so far they have a 100 per cent record.

By contrast, they won just one of their first five domestic matches last term which immediately followed games in the Champions League qualifiers and the Europa League group phase.

Deila conceded his men made hard work of a victory which took Celtic to just one point behind league leaders Aberdeen.

He was happy with the fact his players won, however, and stressed the importance of being able to do that despite a heavy run of fixtures.

Deila said: "It was a very tough game. We started poorly and found ourselves 1-0 down but we got back in and were very effective.

"It was one of the days where you just have to fight for the points and get through it. We have played so many games lately and a lot of players are tired and have issues they have to handle.

"I'm proud of the discipline and the character we showed to get back in the game and win. We were a bit lucky but we have been very unlucky in other games.

"[The] Europa League is the hardest thing to be in. Last year we struggled when we came back and this year we have four games and 12 points so we are learning.

"Everyone talks about Celtic, that they have to win everything and they are so much bigger than everybody else.

"We say we should be the best but I don't think people understand how tough it is for clubs like this.

"You have to win every week, the players play for their national team and we play double the amount of matches as the others.

"They prepare for a week and we have a cup final here every time we come. We played two and a half days ago and went straight into it.

"We have seven victories, two draws and a loss. That's better than last year and we are going to get better and push on."

Hamilton boss Martin Canning was frustrated with the goals his side conceded after seeing them go in front.

He added: "In the first half we scored a great goal and maybe tried to protect what we had before we should have done.

"We showed them a little too much respect in the first half and sat off them. The goals we conceded were sloppy.

"[In] the second half we were different class without really creating a clear-cut opportunity. The biggest things are frustration and pride. The players worked so hard.

"Maybe in the last 15 minutes we never worked their two centre-backs enough and put the ball forward and give them something to defend."