THERE is nothing to fear except fear itself.
Not even a game at Parkhead, it seems. That is the prospect which now confronts Hamilton Academical but they will make the trip to Glasgow full of confidence rather than with any trepidation. When you are unbeaten in seven matches and second in the table, what is there to be nervous about?
Victory over Motherwell on Saturday, the second win over their Lanarkshire rivals in three days, continued a fairytale start to the season for Alex Neil and his players, with Hamilton's return to Scottish football's top tier showing no signs of turning into a nightmare any time soon. With five wins from their eight SPFL Premiership fixtures, only Dundee United are above them in the table and it is now Celtic's turn to try and halt their momentum. It is a task that proved beyond Motherwell at the weekend, an Ali Crawford brace, Tony Andreu strike and Mickael Antoine-Curier penalty earning a comfortable win.
"Everybody is confident, the hype is very high in the team and we don't fear anybody," said Antoine-Curier. "It is going to be a big test against Celtic, which is good. It is not about fancying ourselves. We have to got to show the respect to a big club. Celtic is a massive club. When you speak to anybody in the Carribbean or France, they only know Celtic or Rangers. We will show them the respect but when it comes to the field, that is where there is a battle.
"Celtic are a massive club and we are Hamilton. But there is no way we are going to bow down for them."
Having been touted by many for relegation before a ball was kicked this season, Hamilton continue to defy the odds and prove the doubters wrong. An opening day defeat by Inverness Caledonian Thistle is the only blot on their record so far but even that performance could have been rewarded with points.
Their approach is one that combines style and substance, the relentless work ethic giving them a foothold in the game before their flair players take centre stage. Hamilton did not have to work hard for their goals at Fir Park as a blundering Motherwell defence gift-wrapped the three points but a flurry of chances were created that could have left the Fir Park side even more embarrassed.
"You can't take anything away from Hamilton, I thought they were terrific," said Stuart McCall, the Motherwell manager. "We made the changes, but Accies looked the fresher side, they dominated in every area and were outstanding.
"We have got to have a good, long look at ourselves - me, the staff and a lot of the players. It was really schoolboy errors. You can sometimes hold your hand up and accept when you get outplayed but when you get outfought, out-desired, everything . . . it deflates you but there are no excuses."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article