Canning: I can’t fault players for effort, even in defeat
Accies boss says side worked hard against Celtic
Hamilton ...................... 0 Celtic ............................ 3
Andy Mcgilvray
Martin Canning was disappointed with his side’s 3-0 capitulation against Celtic, but says his players gave him everything.
The champions were barely out of second gear as they cruised to as comfortable a win as they could hope to get in the Premiership.
Their first goal in 13 minutes was a short corner routine as Callum Mcgregor’s set-piece on the left was back-heeled by Odsonne Edouard for the midfielder to play a simple cut-back into the path of unmarked Ryan Christie, who lashed it high into the net.
In 67 minutes, Mikael Lustig’s cross from the right was met with a downward header by Scott Sinclair that would have been an easy save by Gary Woods, but for Scott Martin sticking out a leg and deflecting it past the helpless keeper.
Martin’s foul on Sinclair in 82 minutes led to sub Leigh Griffiths rifling a free kick into the bottom right corner to seal the points.
Celtic would have added a fourth through Christie, but for a block by Ziggy Gordon to send it whistling past the left post inside stoppage time.
Marking at the first goal was non-existent. Martin could have avoided the deflection and own-goal, and everybody inside the stadium could see exactly what Griffiths was going to do with the free-kick, apparently apart from the Accies defence.
Canning felt that his side worked hard enough and were simply beaten by a quality side.
He said: “They’re a top squad. They’re good players. You know they’ve got quality