IT would be quite a story if a guy who sat behind the goal at the Inter Milan game, wearing a daft hat borrowed from his wife, parachuted into the team and helped Celtic win in the San Siro.

But it's possible.

Kris Commons was wise enough not to risk aggravating a hamstring strain and absented himself from that thrilling first leg against the Italians on Thursday, instead watching the game with friends in the stand.

He was high up in the Jock Stein Stand, behind the goal, because he wanted to experience the real atmosphere rather than cosset himself behind glass in a corporate lounge.

"It was like watching Playstation," he said. From up there he saw spaces and passes and runs. He saw vulnerabilities in Inter's play, but also in Celtic's.

Commons has a flair of generating a headline or two. He spoke of borrowing a purple bobble-hat from his wife in order to sink anonymously into the mass of 60,000 fans, although inevitably a few recognised him. They would have recognised his usual contribution against Hamilton, too.

The colours may be the same - black and blue stripes - but there is no other comparison. Commons must wait to learn if he will have the chance to unpick Inter, but he was the one who began the rout of a desperate Accies team.

Although all the goals came in the second half, it never really felt like this could be one of those days for Celtic. There was a palpable sense that virtually everyone in the ground knew they would find a way through eventually.

In games like this, some players might even have felt a momentary pang of disappointment when the manager told them they were playing: Efe Ambrose, James Forrest and even John Guidetti all got to start against Accies having not been in the team picked against Inter Milan.

Stuart Armstrong and Adam Matthews can feel confident of being recalled for the second leg in Milan on Thursday. Gary Mackay-Steven and Leigh Griffiths will have to wait and see.

Commons may well replace Mackay-Steven (that will be a tough call) and Griffiths' replacement, Guidetti, rammed a downward header into the net for 3-0 in a timely strengthening of his own case.

Guidetti was not especially impressive overall but that's now two goals in two games for a player who hadn't scored in months, and managers are easily seduced by strikers showing form in front of goal.

Celtic will go out of the Europa League unless they score in Italy, so Ronny Deila has plenty of thinking to do.

The gulf in class was so enormous that even without playing with great urgency, Celtic managed almost a handful of goals and pressure which was relentless in the first half and became a full-on siege in the second.

Jason Denayer's use of the ball was a little ragged at the back before he was substituted at half-time because of cramp. But Celtic's occasional casualness was never likely to be troubled by Nigel Hasselbaink alone.

There was never any pressure on them. The game was played entirely in Accies' half, with Nir Bitton and Scott Brown the foundation for Celtic's attacks, Emilio Izaguirre and especially Ambrose delivering crosses and Stefan Johansen providing his usual dynamism. Forrest and Guidetti did not do enough with all the ball which came their way.

This was a barren performance from Hamilton, short of quality, confidence and ambition. They aren't the same force - or the same set of players and management, to be fair to them - which performed with such brio in winning at Parkhead in October.

They were cautious and defensive and guarded, and that attitude was coupled with an inability to keep the ball in the rare moments when they wrestled it away from Celtic.

A pass or two, maybe three at the most, and it would be given straight back to a player in green-and-white. Hamilton defended well for almost an hour but their game plan and their inadequacies meant they were under pressure without ever giving themselves a breather. They could never survive an hour-and-a-half of that.

Since Martin Canning replaced Alex Neil, their results have gone into a tailspin: six defeats, two draws, no wins, three goals scored and 20 conceded.

Goalkeeper Michael McGovern produced saves on his goalline to deny Nir Bitton, then Forrest, then Virgil van Dijk, and in the second half he was impressive again with a terrific double save as Celtic fully dominated.

The floodgates opened after 57 minutes of mild Celtic frustration when van Dijk's through ball found Commons, who got away from Louis Longridge and squirted the ball past McGovern. Parkhead breathed out.

Soon a van Dijk run culminated with a shot which McGovern parried only for Johansen to come barging through to ram home the rebound. Hamilton's resistance was over. Izaguirre bulleted a delivery cross the goalmouth which Guidetti nodded into the goal, before Commons managed a slightly fortunate fourth by deceiving McGovern to score with a mishit shot.

Still, Hamilton had fortune themselves, namely in getting away with only four. Celtic fly on Wednesday and they were on autopilot long before the end of this.