Celtic winger Gary Mackay-Steven is delighted as the team finally hit form

Celtic winger Gary Mackay-Steven revealed the players were determined to entertain the fans against Hamilton following a recent poor run of form at home.

Since the 3-1 victory over title challengers Aberdeen on October 31, Celtic have struggled in their five homes games in all competitions, losing 2-1 to Molde and Ajax in the Europa League and by the same score to Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership, as well as drawing 0-0 with Kilmarnock.

The team's only victory during the run came in the Glasgow derby against Partick, which was settled by a solitary Leigh Griffiths goal in stoppage-time.

But Celtic finally clicked against the Accies as they raced into a 3-0 lead in the opening 10 minutes with goals from Mikael Lustig, Nir Bitton and Tom Rogic, before Griffiths hit a hat-trick with James Forrest and Callum McGregor also finding the net in an 8-1 victory.

And Mackay-Steven believes getting the opening goal after just four minutes filled the players with confidence which has been lacking in the previous matches at Celtic Park.

"We wanted to get an early goal and that's important, especially at home," Mackay-Steven said.

"We managed to do that and we put in a great performance, especially in the first half.

"We've all seen in the last few home games we haven't scored too many goals. Teams have come and made it really hard for us so we were determined to get that early goal as the game might open up after that.

"We just took confidence from it and carried it on so it was really enjoyable.

"We feel we can go on a good run now and hopefully take teams apart like we did against Hamilton. We feel we can do that to anyone on our day."

The former Dundee United favourite made his first league start since October and hopes to put a difficult spell behind him.

"I knew it'd be tough," Mackay-Steven said. "Last season, signing for a big club like Celtic, I knew there would be spells where if you're out the team and they do well, like we've been doing, it would be tough being out and watching from the sidelines.

"But I've enjoyed every minute I'm here. I'm just trying to work as hard as I can in training and catch the manager's eye, and hopefully I've done that."

Meanwhile, Croatian club Slaven Belupo have claimed Celtic are closing in on the signing of Ljuban Crepulja.

The 22-year-old their holding midfielder travelled to Glasgow on Tuesday for transfer talks with the Scottish champions.