McDonald on target as Celtic go top

Australia’s Scott McDonald scored for Celtic as they moved above arch-rivals Rangers to the top of the Scottish Premier League table by a point after a 2-1 win away to Hamilton on Sunday.

Shaun Maloney put the Hoops ahead with a 15th minute volley before McDonald doubled the visitors’ lead just before the half-hour.

But Mickael Antone-Curier’s goal for Hamilton seven minutes before full-time meant Celtic had to endure a nervous finale and Hoops keeper Lukasz Zaluska, in for the injured Artur Boruc, made a point-blank save from James McArthur to deny the hosts a draw.

“It’s a welcome three points and it puts us back where we want to be and hopefully we can push on from there,” Celtic manager Tony Mowbray told ESPN after his side capitalised on Rangers’ surprise 1-1 draw with Hibernian on Saturday.

“If you look at the table you will see Glasgow Celtic on top of it.

“We won and that’s the important thing. It’s all about results and we got the result today so we won’t analyse it too deeply,” said Mowbray, who last season was the manager of West Bromwich Albion when the Midlands club were relegated from the English Premier League.

“I didn’t feel threatened until the last five minutes, we generally controlled the game,” he added.

But Celtic captain Stephen McManus said the Glasgow giants, beaten 1-0 by Hamburg in the UEFA Europa League in midweek, still had room for improvement.

“We still need to get better, moving the ball and passing the ball.

“Everyone’s got an opinion but as players you just want to get better and it’s important all the lads stick together and are behind the manager.

“We’re still not firing on all cylinders but we’ll get there.”