THEORETICALLY this was, sort of, the kind of weird night when Celtic’s unbeaten run might come under threat.

However, practice with a heavy dose of realism added to it always trumps theory.

Celtic Park was cold, hardly bursting to the rafters, which means the atmosphere wasn't great and such elements can affect even the best teams.

Read more: Brendan Rodgers: We have a lot of games but Celtic can never blame fatigue​

Yet, Brendan Rodgers has instilled in his players a ruthlessness that even Genghis Khan might have felt was a touch over the top.

That’s 69 domestic games now without defeat for the champions and while beating Hamilton, with every due respect to a team that had nothing to reproach themselves about, is hardly worthy of much more than a footnote, Celtic for the most part have played good football on this sensational run.

Although they didn't hit the heights here, the scored three impressive goals.

Rodgers tweaked his team as he tends to do in matches such as this one, Hamilton were set-up to defend with their lives, but for the most part it made little difference.

Odsonne Edouard began again in the No9 role for Celtic which meant the man who wears that number, Leigh Griffiths, was again on the bench. There must be more to this than simply Rodgers deciding to go with the on-loan PSG man for a couple of games.

Not that Griffiths or Moussa Dembele, a fellow substitute, were missed.

A Nir Bitton shot from 30 yards after only a minute, which was well dealt by Hamilton goalkeeper Gary Woods, was quickly followed up by a similar strike from Stuart Armstrong. This early flurry, to the dismay of Hamilton, hinted at what was to come in the first 45.

The goal was always coming and did so after eleven minutes.

An excellent Callum McGregor pass down the left picked out Scott Sinclair who in turn got himself into the box and produced an intelligent cross to the back post, Ntcham took the ball on the volley and found the top corner for his fifth of the season.

Read more: Martin Canning proud of his Hamilton players after their brave display at Celtic Park

The Frenchman forced the busy Woods into a fine save on 25 minutes, this time the midfielder found power and precision from his left foot outside the box. Ah, but the game would see a second goal three minutes later.

For the first time in the evening, Hamilton got on the ball and made some passes. One of them came from Darian McKinnon who found Daniel Redmond on the edge of Celtic’s box and the Accies man produced a superb shot which dipped over a helpless Craig Gordon.

But Celtic were in no mood for anything silly to happen and they managed to score twice before half-time.

On 41 minutes, an Armstrong pass split a way too flat Hamilton back four, James Forrest needed just one touch to get past Woods and then he slid the ball home. Within a minute the game was done.

Forrest was the provider this time, his cross picking out Sinclair who after controlling the ball didn’t have to move his feet a great deal, a dink of both shoulders was enough to bamboozle the Hamilton players, and his curling effort into the opposite corner was a true touch of class.

It couldn’t have been an easy half-time team talk from Martin Canning, the Hamilton manager, but it was a eat credit to his players that they never hid, played some nice football at times and had their moments on what was a challenging night.

Rodgers was right in his pre-match talk when he said his players would not have to battle against the league’s smallest club.

Read more: Brendan Rodgers: We have a lot of games but Celtic can never blame fatigue​

Edouard saw an early second-half chance blocked by Woods and on 53 minutes the Hamilton keeper did even better when confronted with the young Frenchman, who had been sent clear courtesy of a fine Scott Brownpass, but with a goal looking likely Woods stood tall and made a good save.

Edouard, like all good Frenchmen, tends to over-egg the pudding. There are time he will try to beat a man rather than shoot; however, the 19-year-old once again showed maturity in his play before being replaced by Griffiths on 67 minutes.

Hamilton should have scored a second when the impressive Greg Docherty got down the right wing, centred for Rakish Bingham who was unmarked, right in front of goal and yet sent his shot wide.

Docherty is a fine player and his 50 yard run on 71 minutes, he even held off Brown, was eye-catching even if the Accies midfielder’s eventual shot was not.

And then on 79 minutes a quite awful attempt of a pass-back by Jozo Simunovic, who had just been put on, allowed Bingham to get in-between the defender and Gordon, he poked the ball past Celtic’s keeper, but it came back off the far post and was cleared.

So, it was hardly a classic Celtic performance and, indeed, Hamilton could take a lot away from a genuinely spirited performance.

There is no shame in losing to Celtic. There are no signs Celtic will lose any time soon.

Celtic: Gordon; Ajer, Bitton, Boyata (Simunovic 71), McGregor; Brown, Ntchan; Forrest (Hayes 79), Armstrong, Sinclair; Edouard (Griffiths 67)

Substitutes not used: De Vries, Dembele, Lustig, Tierney

Hamilton: Woods, Tomas, Gogic, McMann; Donati, Gillespie (Skondras 49), MacKinnon, Docherty, Imrie, Redmond (Lyon 79); Bingham (Cunningham 84)

Substitutes not used: Fulton, Templeton, Ferguson, Sarris

Referee: Stephen Finnie