| Celtic were denied a winner in last night's game at New Douglas Park as the ball from Emilio Izaguirre's corner very late in the game was adjudged to have gone over the line before Anthony Stokes put the ball into the net. There was controversy throughout the 90 minutes with referee Willie Collum speaking to both managers during the game. Hamilton looked to be on their way to win for the first time against Celtic for 22 years before Stokes claimed a last-minute equaliser from the penalty spot. Bottom club Accies opened the scoring through Simon Mensing and with James Forrest and Jim McAlister both sent off earlier in the game and the goal-scorer joining them, when he conceded the last-gasp spot-kick, meant the game ended with the points shared. Freddie Ljungberg was dropped to the bench as Celtic made three changes from the Scottish Cup win over Berwick Rangers. Georgios Samaras missed out through injury, while Fraser Forster was given the nod in goal ahead of Lukasz Zaluska. Hamilton made one change from their win over Alloa, with Marco Paixao making way for Gavin Skelton, while new signing Mickael Antoine-Curier was named among the substitutes. Celtic had the chance to pile on the pressure when they won a free-kick on the left flank and Charlie Mulgrew whipped a dangerous ball into the box for Paddy McCourt in front of goal, but Mark McLaughlin was first to the ball to nod into the hands of goalkeeper Tomas Cerny. At the other end, Mensing tried to open the scoring for Hamilton but his shot from just inside the box was tame and it was comfortably gathered by Forster. The breakthrough for Hamilton came after 28 minutes when Flavio Paixao lofted the ball into the box. Although Forster managed to block the ball, Mensing pounced to nod home. Martin Canning appeared to be in an offside position in front of the goalkeeper but the goal was allowed to stand. Celtic tried to haul themselves back into the game and could have levelled when Cerny's attempts to clear a Mulgrew cross fell at the feet of Forrest 15 yards out but he blasted well over the crossbar. With half-time approaching, irate manager Neil Lennon was called upon to take his lecture from referee Collum. Celtic suffered another setback just four minutes after the restart when Forrest dived in late with a rash challenge on David Buchanan and was shown a straight red card, with the Accies player requiring treatment before being able to continue. With just under an hour gone, Celtic made their first change when Beram Kayal was withdrawn to allow for the introduction of skipper Scott Brown, who came off the bench to score at Berwick at the weekend. Accies threw McAlister into the action in place of McLaughlin after 62 minutes but he was sent off after just 35 seconds on the field following a reckless tackle on Mark Wilson, who was replaced by Niall McGinn moments later. Celtic set about trying to level the scoreline and Stokes saw a ferocious drive from 25 yards gratefully smothered by Cerny. With time fast running out, Joe Ledley was withdrawn for Ljungberg, as the former Arsenal star was given his first taste of SPL action. Cerny was called into action again when Dougie Imrie's clearance smacked off Stokes and rebounded towards goal. Daniel Majstorovic - who scored his first goal for Celtic at the weekend - then nodded wide from the corner. Just when Accies thought they had held on for the win, the referee pointed to the penalty spot in the last minute, as Mensing was sent off for a foul on Emilio Izaguirre in the box. Stokes stepped up to send the goalkeeper the wrong way with the spot-kick. Stokes then thought he had grabbed the winner at the death but Izaguirre's corner had gone out of play before he forced home a header as the game ended all square. |