Premiership featured game

Hamilton Accies welcome Celtic to New Douglas Park on Saturday for the first time since the sides drew 1-1 back in January 2011.

Accies have already beaten Ronny Deila’s side 1-0 at Parkhead this season and this latest meeting is live on Sky Sports at 12.45pm.

Former Gretna and Kilmarnock player Gavin Skelton, now manager of Workington, remembers well holding Celtic to a draw four years ago.

Skelton said: “We were struggling in the league at the time and my job was to man-mark Paddy McCourt. I actually did it well and I reckon that it was my best game in an Accies shirt.

“I did not enjoy the best of form when I was there but I had a decent game that night, which was great as it was live on TV and a big occasion for us all.

“We all had to play well to get the point as we ended up with only nine men. Jim McAlister was sent off within a minute of coming on as a substitute midway through the second half and Simon Mensing, who had scored our goal, was sent off just before the end.”

Celtic had James Forrest dismissed and equalised in injury time through Anthony Stokes, with Skelton saying: “I remember some people viewing that game as significant in the title race as Celtic would have opened up a seven-point gap if they had won it.”

In the end, Celtic finished second and Hamilton were relegated but it’s a different story this time round and Skelton added: “I am really pleased to see how well Hamilton are doing this season in the Premiership. I keep a keen eye on them, as I do with Kilmarnock.

“I was a team-mate of Martin Canning back in our Gretna days and I hope things work out for him at New Douglas Park. I felt for him watching the Dundee United game after his side got back to 2-2 and then lost on Monday.

“I could tell Martin was management material back at Gretna as he was a great reader of the game and had a great knowledge about it. He will have benefited from working closely with Alex as he is a top coach who I got to know while doing a UEFA course.

“He did a fantastic job at Hamilton and it is good to see the kids who were there when I played – Grant Gillespie, Ali Crawford and Mickey Devlin - all progressing. I hope they continue doing that.”

The 33-year-old added: “I am now playing and managing at Workington Reds and I am enjoying it. We are on a decent run and that certainly helps with the enjoyment but it is different when you are in charge.

“We don’t have any Scottish players here but I would like to change that. We had Willie Gibson at the start of the season and would like to have kept him but he got a good chance at Stranraer and took it.”

Craig Stewart