Celtic’s Development League side made it five wins out of five with a 3-0 win away to Hamilton Accies.
The home side made life difficult for long stretches of the game but the hoops back four- all eligible to play at u-19- plus Conor Hazard stood firm.
Kerr McInroy opened the scoring in the first half with Regan Hendry and Jack Aitchison finding the net late in the second half.
The points sent Celtic ahead of Falkirk and St Mirren in the Development League table despite having played 10 and 9 fixtures less than those sides.
Accies started the match looking the likelier team but found Conor Hazard in commanding form.
Lewis Smith was sent through one on one after 15 minutes but the Celtic keeper had his angles well covered and smothered the shot.
Soon afterwards Ali Crawford did get the ball past the keeper but his lofted shot from an angle found the side netting.
Celtic began to exert themselves as the half hour mark approached with Mikey Johnston having a low shot held from 16 yards out following a Lewis Bell pass.
In the 33rd minute Celtic took the lead when McInroy elected to let fly with a 25 yard effort high into the postage stamp corner that Accies keeper Darren Jamieson never got close to.
Accies also started the second half on the attack but the Celtic defence closed down space well and gave little away.
Just past the hour mark Celtic threatened when Johnston played a 1-2 with Hendry in the box but Jamieson got a foot to the shot to keep the ball out.
Celtic’s close passing in the penalty box did pay off in the 75th minute when Hendry burst through to send a low angled shot past Jamieson from 12 yards out to put Celtic 2-0 in front.
That goal dis-spirited the home team with Aitchison scoring Celtic’s third seven minutes later by netting the rebound after Jamieson had blocked his penalty.
CELTIC Hazard; Bell, Welsh, Deas, Church; McInroy, Thomson; Hendry, Savoury, Johnston; Aitchison
SUBS Wilison, Duffy, Hill, Caffrey, Watson, E Henderson, Potter.
ACCIES 1 Jamieson 2 Boyd 3 McCann 4 Want (c) 5 Douglas 6 Breen 7 Kelly 8 Ferguson 9 Tierney 10 Crawford 12 L Smith subs 14 Hamilton 15 Wilson 16 Scullion 17 Reilly 18 Joseph 20 Slaven 19 Marshall
