By Martin Conaghan
**Celtic returned to the top of the Scottish Premier League table with a hard-fought away victory over Hamilton.**Shaun Maloney’s scissor-kick attempt in the 15th minute put the visitors ahead after a drab opening period.
On the half hour, Scott McDonald skipped past the Hamilton defence to fire past Hamilton keeper Tomas Cerny.
Mickael Antoine-Curier grabbed a consolation in the 83rd minute, flicking on a James McArthur following a spell of pressure from the hosts.
Lukasz Zaluska replaced the injured Artur Boruc in goal for the visitors, while Hamilton manager Billy Reid kept faith with the side that drew with Dundee United last week.
Following a dreary opening 15 minutes, the match sparked to life with a well-worked move orchestrated by Celtic defender Andreas Hinkel down the right-hand side.
The German crossed for Maloney to attempt an overhead kick from six yards out, lashing a leg at the ball and sending Cerny the wrong way in the Hamilton goal to open the scoring.
Antoine-Curier replied at the other end with a powerful drive from 30 yards out, but Zaluska held well.
Moments later, Simon Mensing took advantage of some sloppy Celtic defending to blast a right-footed shot from the edge of the penalty area over the bar.
A cool Gary Caldwell pass from the half-way line allowed Aiden McGeady to cross in before China captain Zheng Zhi pounced on a clearance and sent his driving shot over the bar.
Hamilton’s defence was left standing in the 29th minute when Scott McDonald latched on to a scrappy pass from Georgios Samaras at the edge of the box to skip past the back three and fire past Cerny for Celtic’s second.
Defender Richard Hastings ballooned a free-kick over the bar in reply, following a clash of heads between Celtic captain Stephen McManus and Mark McLaughlin.
Shortly before the interval, Hamilton were unlucky not to score when Marco Paixao’s free-kick escaped the Celtic defence, but Zaluska cleared before Antoine-Curier could pounce.
Following the restart, Zhi delivered a weak shot straight into the arms of Cerny and Hamilton pressed for an opening.
A flurry of Celtic activity on the edge of Hamilton penalty area as the hour-mark approached gave way to a McGeady cross that McDonald failed to reach, then Maloney curved in a free-kick that shaved Cerny’s right-hand post.
Zaluska reacted quickly to keep out a Mensing effort in the 70th minute, with Hamilton struggling to find a way through.
The Poland international was forced to parry a Jordan Kirkpatrick shot wide for a corner as the hosts picked up some pace in the final 10 minutes in their search for a consolation.
The pressure finally paid off with seven minutes left to play when James McArthur pounced on a Caldwell headed clearance to shoot from distance, and Antoine-Curier flicked past Zaluska from four yards out.
McArthur could have snatched a point for Hamilton in the 88th minute when he went one-on-one with Zaluska after latching on to an Antoine-Curier nod, but a deft save by the Pole gave Celtic the points.