Celtic produced their best performance in some time and made it five wins on the spin with a dominant 3-0 win at Hamilton Accies that should have been by a lot more.
Right from the off Celtic were at it and it was a wonder it was still 0-0 at half time as a Leigh Griffiths cannoned a header back off the post after an effort in the opening minutes was saved well by Kyle Gourlay and before another rasping effort by the Celtic hitman was touched over the bar.
Odsonne Edouard also led the South Lanarkshire men’s backline a merry dance before firing over and the Frenchman was denied at point-blank range by the Accies stand-in keeper just before the end of the first stanza.
In the second half though we could not be denied and Edouard opened the scoring via the penalty spot after being taken down by Aaron Martin on the 49th minute.
He used the fabled Panenka technique from the spot last Saturday in the Scottish Cup final but resorted to a more tried and tested approach of blasting it into the corner this time for his tenth goal of the season.
Five mins later his sumptuous backheel on the edge of the box set up Griff to bury the second and it looked like the roof might cave in on the hosts.
Alas, we only got one more when David Turnbull continued his impressive recent run in the first team as he clipped home from close range on the 74th minute.
Yes, Accies were decimated with injury but this could have been six or seven easily and we dominated from start to finish.
That’s now three straight league wins with seven scored and none conceded and the Griffiths and Edouard front pairing that blazed a trail in the second half of last season is well and truly back in business.
The gap remains an enormous 16 points albeit we have three games in hand and we have the keep both the momentum and the pressure going when we face Dundee Utd at home on Wednesday night.
The Arabs have had a decent season and sit fifth after 20 games thanks to six wins and seven draws.
They are currently on a three-game unbeaten run and have only lost two of their last ten games in the league though they haven’t had an away win since the 15th of August up at struggling Ross County.
Star striker Lawrence Shankland scored goals for fun in the second tier of Scottish football but has struggled thus far in the top flight with only three in fifteen.
Veteran Nicky Clark though has hit ten in 21 games, eight of which have come in the league.
Manager Micky Mellon has drilled his side to be physical and combative as demonstrated by centre backs Mark Connolly and Mark Reynolds both of whom are no stranger to a yellow card.
Expect them to sit in and look for set pieces.
Goalkeeper Benjamin Siegrist will also be worth a watch as we are currently being consistently linked to him for a move in January.
Three points is a must and after that, it’s on to……………….. Ibrox.
More on that to come.
A lot more.
Let’s just deal with the men in tangerine first.
....Always A Tim! 