MOUSSA Dembele took his tally for the 2016/17 season to 29 with a double against Hamilton Academical at Parkhead today to extend Celtic's stunning unbeaten domestic run to 32 games.
The French striker netted a delightful individual goal just before half-time and then buried a penalty in the second-half to ensure Brendan Rodgers's side won 2-0.
The Scottish champions' 21st consecutive league triumph maintained their 24 point lead over Aberdeen at the top of the Ladbrokes Premiership table.
Celtic suffered a blow in the sixth minute when James Forrest suffered an injury after a hard, but perfectly legitimate, challenge from Danny Redmond.
The winger failed to respond to medical attention and was replaced by Gary Mackay Steven.
Hamilton, who found themselves at the foot of the top flight table last night without kicking ball as Inverness Caledonian Thistle beat Rangers to leapfrog them did superbly to contain their hosts in the opening exchanges.
Playing five in defence – midfielder Dougie Imrie dropped to left back - when the home team was attacking proved a highly effective tactic and frustrated the runaway league leaders attempts to open the scoring.
Both Kieran Tierney, who was showing no ill-effects of the horrific foul he had been subjected to seven days earlier in the game against Motherwell, and Scott Sinclair went close, but their shots were struck from outside the penalty box.
Martin Canning’s side did well to close down their rivals in midfield and snuff out attacking moves at source and even manager to break up field in the 27th minute. Darian McKinnon fed Imrie who fired well wide.
Stuart Armstrong should have put Celtic in front in the 32nd minute after Tierney had squared the ball to him. The midfielder had an empty net to sidefoot the ball into but somehow managed to hit the crossbar from just a few yards out.
Armstrong would have been a relieved man in the 45th minute when Dembele ghosted past two Hamilton defenders and stroked a sweet right foot shot from the edge of the area into the top right corner.
Celtic were awarded a penalty by referee Crawford Allan in the 59th minute after Massimo Donati barged over Tierney as the left back charged into the Hamilton area. Dembele made no mistake.
The 20-year-old soon set about trying to net his third hat-trick in four games. He was, though, unable to hit the target again and left the field to a huge ovation from the home support in the 72nd minute.
Leigh Griffiths came on to replace him. It was the striker’s first start this year and his first appearance in exactly a month and he worked tirelessly to get his name on the scoresheet.
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