Hamilton Accies captain Darian MacKinnon believes that Mikel Miller can make a significant contribution to the Lanarkshire side this season.

The 21-year-old striker had a chance to give Accies a 30-second leveller against Celtic yesterday but was denied by Hoops keeper Craig Gordon.

“Mikel had a good chance but he’s up against a top class goalie who’s made a great save," said MacKinnon. "All you can ask is for your striker to hit the target and he did.

“Mikel’s got electric pace and a good touch. He blew up near the end obviously because he’d put in some shift against their defence. But he’s got a real chance of doing well in the game.

“We’re not worried. I think the squad we’ve got is more than capable of staying in this league.

“But you can’t talk, you need to do it on the pitch."

And MacKinnon believes that the defensive performance yesterday augers well for the season that lies in wait.

Martin Canning's side were undone by a 63-rd minute Dedryck Boyata goal after restricting Celtic's space all afternoon.

“We did well, our shape was good," he said.T"he only disappointing thing was losing a goal from a set piece.

“If they’re going to beat you then you want it to be a wonder goal.

“That’s the only complaint we could’ve had on the day.

“I thought for large parts of the game we defended well. But going forward we need to show a bit more against the teams round about us.

“We’ve come here before and taken real sore ones. I remember losing 8-1 and looking at the scoreboard after maybe 19 minutes and we were five down.

“So it was a lot better today.

“I’m just disappointed we didn’t manage to nick anything at the end."

And the player admitted the nature of the discord over Boyata's situation before the game set a strange atmosphere.

“It was a mad experience out there, with the banner and were fans booing and cheering Boyata," he said. "Listen, nobody knows what was really going on.

“Boyata’s a professional player, you don’t know if he’s been injured. That’s down to Celtic’s business, obviously.

“But, you saw today what a top player he is and it was just unfortunate for us this was his first game back.

“During the game you’re tuned in, we only heard the other stuff before the kick-off.

“We gave it everything and we just came up short.”