A section of the Celtic support yesterday spelled out on a huge banner that Dedryck Boyata isn’t fit to wear the jersey prior to their match against Hamilton, but he went some way to proving his worth to the club by securing a thoroughly deserved three points that might have drifted away from them otherwise.

Given Scottish football’s panache for a storyline, you would have put your own shirt on the want-away defender making his mark on his return to the side against the Lanarkshire outfit, and so it proved as Boyata responded to his critics in fine style by breaking the stubborn resistance of Martin Canning’s battlers.

That less than warm welcome back to the fold for Boyata pre-match from the standing section of the ground certainly didn’t represent a unanimous view across the stadium, with a mixture of boos and applause greeting the Belgian’s every touch in the early stages. By the time his name was being announced as the scorer of Celtic’s goal just after the hour, the balance had swung mainly from jeers to cheers, but he certainly has some way to go to work his way back into the affections of the Celtic support after his no-show in Athens and his protracted dispute with the club over the summer as he looked for an escape route from Glasgow.

It was gloomy weather off the park, and heavy weather on it for Celtic for the majority of this encounter. There was a decent enough turnout at Celtic Park considering the inclement conditions, but it was all a little bit flat in the stands and on the pitch as the home side huffed and puffed to blow down the wall of black shirts that Hamilton had erected on their 18-yard line.

It will all be different next Sunday when Rangers come calling, of course. Given the two points that Steven Gerrard’s side had earlier dropped at Fir Park against Motherwell, this seemed to represent a good opportunity to capture back some of the headwind that has been building behind the Ibrox outfit ahead of next week’s Old Firm showdown. But while the win was secured, it was hardly in the style they would have hoped.

As a warm-up exercise in breaking down a side that comes calling looking simply to limit the damage to their goal, then it might be more useful as a tune-up ahead of the second-leg of the Europa League play-off against FK Suduva on Thursday night. On this evidence, the practice could be welcome.

After six games without a clean sheet before this match, their goal was never really in danger of being breached apart from in the opening seconds when Craig Gordon saved well from Mikel Miller. But boy, did they make hard work of picking their way through the massed ranks occupying the visiting box.

The champions did eventually start to turn the screw with James Forrest forcing Gary Woods to tip onto the outside of his post after a period of sustained pressure, and the winger came close again after a wonderful reverse pass from Tom Rogic put him in on the right, but his shot across goal was deflected just wide.

Hamilton were camped in and making life difficult, but Celtic should have hit the front just before the interval as Moussa Dembele rose to meet Forrest’s dink to the back post, but he somehow headed wide from a couple of yards.

Celtic tried to inject a bit more purpose into the game following the interval, Kieran Tierney teeing up Callum McGregor and then Dembele to go close in quick succession, before the deadlock was finally broken just after the hour. And it just had to be Boyata.

Leigh Griffiths hoisted a corner up towards the back post for Mikael Lustig to knock down, and there was the big Belgian to bundle the ball home from a few yards out.

It came as a relief more than anything for the home support, although some of those in the standing area of the ground who had booed his every involvement to that point might have been a tad embarrassed as they celebrated the goal.

Any notion that the floodgates would open like the gloomy Glasgow sky were soon banished though as the game continued in a similar vein, with Celtic lacking enough tempo in their play to stretch the Hamilton rearguard to breaking point and the visitors showing little ambition to get forward and try to salvage a point from the game.

At the final whistle, Boyata joined his teammates on a rather muted lap of honour in front of the emptying stands, where he was greeted with applause. It was a sign of solidarity from the squad that fractions had been healed, and while the centre-back may yet leave the club before the end of the week, his presence here highlighted that his exit would leave a hole that Celtic will need to fill.