Celtic manager Ronny Deila said it was pleasing to see his side get the goals their dominance deserved as the Hoops routed Hamilton 8-1 to move six points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership.

The Hoops humiliated hapless Hamilton as goals from Mikel Lustig, Nir Bitton and Australian international Tom Rogic saw Celtic race into a 3-0 lead after just 10 minutes, with Leigh Griffiths adding another double before the break.

Substitute James Forrest added a sixth before Griffiths completed his hat-trick. Eamonn Brophy grabbed a scant consolation for Hamilton before Callum McGregor completed the scoring late on.

Celtic have come in for criticism for their profligacy in front of goal but Deila was delighted with a clinical performance from his players as he savoured the biggest win of his managerial career.

"It was a fantastic night and a very good performance. We scored a lot of goals and could have scored more," the Norwegian manager said. "I am very pleased with the performance and the boys.

"It's always hard to keep up the tempo and the intensity when you are 3-0 up after 10 minutes but we did that very well.

"Today we deserved it and we could have had much more as we had so many chances.

"You always want to get games like this and I'm very pleased today.

"First of all you want to get the three points and then you want to score as many as possible and we have to be happy with eight."

Celtic's involvement in European qualifiers meant a short summer break and a congested fixture list in the opening half of the season.

However, their exit from Europe and a couple of postponed fixtures have allowed the Celtic players some much-needed rest and Deila said there was a renewed freshness in the squad.

"We were dangerous today and we see more energy in the team.

"I've seen it in training in the last few weeks that we've looked better and better. Today you could see what kind of tempo we can play when we play at our best.

"I think we played so many games before Christmas with some happy days and bad days.

"We've kept on going since June 20 without a long break. Now after Christmas we've had some weeks training and some players have rested and you can see more energy in the whole team I think.

"I feel a freshness in the group and I see smiles and people are looking forward to games and that's very important."

Celtic could extend their lead to nine points when they host St Johnstone on Saturday.

"We need to know why we were good today and put out the same performance on Saturday as that's going to be a tough game as well," Deila said.

"But when you play at this level it is tough to beat us."

Hamilton manager Martin Canning said the manner of the defeat was bitterly disappointing.

"When you lose goals in that manner and you concede three goals in ten minutes you are giving yourself no chance," Canning said. "We didn't have enough leadership on the park tonight and to lose in the manner that we did is unacceptable. It's not good enough.

"However, this was never a game that our season was going to be defined by."