Celtic outclass Hamilton Accies to leapfrog Aberdeen and return to the summit of the SPFL.
Brendan Rodgers men returned from the international break in scintillating style thrashing Hamilton Academical 4-1 at the SuperSeal Stadium.
It didn’t take the visitors long to go in front as a rejuvenated looking Stuart Armstrong curled a lovely strike around the helpless Accies stopper Gary Woods after just 17 minutes. The recent contract extension has seemed to refocus Armstrong and brought out the form that hoops fans became accustomed to last season.
If the Hamilton goalkeeper Woods was expecting an easy night between the sticks, he was sadly out of luck. It turned out that Armstrong’s strike was only the first sign of trouble in what turned out to be an extremely busy night for Englishman.
Scott Sinclair fired in a quick double before half time with help from new bhoy Odsonne Edouard on loan from PSG until the end of the season. Edouard later got in on the act himself, calmly slotting the ball beyond Woods after some lovely footwork between himself and Patrick Roberts.
Accies did get themselves on the score sheet eventually on 86 minutes through Alex Gogic. The Cypriot bagged his first goal for the red and whites with a bullet header beyond the scrambling Craig Gordon.
Here are my three takeaways from the game.
Od’ one out
PSG loanee Odsonne Eduoard may have been the only Celtic striker fit to play tonight, however that pressure did not seem to bother the French prodigy as he exploded on to the scene in Scotland with a fantastic debut. The striker bagged himself a well taken goal after doing superbly well to tee up teammate Scott Sinclair for his first of the evening.
The big man was a thorn in the side of Hamilton defense all night. His pace and power proved simply too much to handle for the Accies. His display did not go unnoticed as manager Brendan Rodgers revealed to the media post game that the Frenchman returned to the dressing room to a standing ovation from his team mates.
Of course it is still early days but, if his debut is anything to go by, Celtic fans should be very excited about Edouard in this upcoming season.
The ‘Praddical’ son has returned
Edouard was not the only one playing his first game of the season for the Celts. New cult hero Paddy Roberts made his return for the hoops after what seemed to be the longest transfer saga in recent Celtic history.
🎙️ @patrick7roberts caught up with @CelticTV after making his second Hoops debut in tonight's 4-1 success at @acciesfc pic.twitter.com/dVMzLejyFm
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) September 8, 2017
The young Englishman is on loan from Manchester City for a second stint in Glasgow and seems to have picked up right where he left off.
His touch and flair at times was just too hot for the Hamilton players who where eventually put out of their misery on 65 minutes when he was substituted with midweek’s European monster clash in mind.
Still beautiful, magical
In the ever changing world in which we live, things can change quite rapidly. Especially in the world of football. Personnel is one of them, (Roberts and Edouard). One thing that never seems to change however, is Scott Sinclair’s knack for scoring goals.
The Englishman had one of the best seasons of his career last season in which he was named SPFL player of the year.
That form has continued into this season with Sinclair bagging himself a brace tonight bringing his tally to 8 in all competitions. This is crazy considering that we have only just entered the second week of September.
Next: Celtic Bhoys impressive on international duty
Manger Brendan Rodgers will hope that Sinclair’s form will spill over onto the European stage come Wednesday night.