BOYATA STILL A BHOY
Gordon and Co rally round wantaway defender
AS soon as the team lines were revealed at Celtic Park yesterday afternoon, there was something pre-ordained about Dedryck Boyata’s role in what was about to follow.
As the controversial defender made his first appearance of the season – and his first since refusing to play against AEK Athens and FK Suduva – he turned the jeers from the home support to awkward cheers with the only goal of a desperately turgid game.
Boyata and his agent have made no secret of their wish to quit the club and head elsewhere. With five days remaining it is entirely possible that his desire will be granted and while this potential send-off will not atone for this conduct since Celtic dismissed a £9million offer for him from Fulham three weeks ago, it seemed like the start of some sort of redemption.
Interestingly, goalkeeper Craig Gordon ran the length of the pitch to congratulate the defender when he broke the deadlock just after the hour mark and there was no shortage of similarly enthusiastic offerings from his team-mates.
Still, when the stadium announcer gave the man of the match award to Moussa Dembele there was a suspicion that even had the Belgian netted a hat-trick he wouldn’t have done enough to take that particular gong.
Boyata’s inclusion in the starting line-up came as a surprise but it was a decision not to everyone’s liking. The Green Brigade unfurled a banner which read “Boyata: Not fit to wear the jersey” as the players headed out of the tunnel and onto the pitch to kick the game off.
It wasn’t unnoticed by the defender who, at one stage in the second period, had gone to retrieve the ball just in front of the Green Brigade section. There was no obvious exchange other than a fierce look from the player thrown in their direction.
It came on the back of some booing as his name was read out before kick-off, although there was significant applause in his favour in the opening minutes of the game when he was quick to intervene when Hamilton Accies’ Mickel Miller advanced.
Miller had already posted notice of his ability to unsettle the Celtic defence. There were just 30 seconds on the clock when the player had brought out a save from Gordon Gordon after breaching Celtic’s backline.
The bulk of the action, though, was one way.
Accies set themselves up to frustrate Celtic and although there were a handful of chances in the opening period, there were none which bore fruit.
“It was an important win for us on the back of a European game,” said Brendan Rodgers afterwards. “Big credit to the players, because it’s never easy against Hamilton.
“They defend very strongly and have fit players who move well and deny you space in the game. We knew we would have to be patient. We created opportunities, didn’t quite take them but eventually made the breakthrough.
“Apart from the first 20 seconds, we didn’t give anything away defensively. We looked solid and tight. You always hope you can get more goals to decide the game earlier but it wasn’t to be. We take the goal and clean sheet, we’re happy with the three points.”
Moussa Dembele had the best of the lot with the last kick of the first half when he clipped the crossbar with a long-range effort while prior to that he had a header at the back post that went just wide.
The Frenchman had used his strength at one point in the opening stages to hold off three Accies jerseys at one