“We should have taken something from the game and we should have had a penalty.

“Simunovic pulls him (Shinne). Shinnie should be rewarded for his honesty for trying to stay up. The Celtic player comes across him. We lost a goal the other night when a player went down without contact and we lose the game although I accept we had 80 odd minutes to do something about it. But today Shinnie does not go down after getting pulled back and should go down but he should also be rewarded for his honesty. It was a penalty kick.

“I thought Celtic were hanging on to be honest. I applaud them for winning the game, there is real quality from Rogic for the goal – we are disappointed that he found that space at the edge (of the box), but I thought we deserved something from the game.

“We will not concentrate on Celtic (regards the league positions). We will just go and managed our own game. I said before today I think they are going to take a lot of stopping.

“I've watched too many teams hardly lay a glove on them. I think we went with a team to try and spook them with pace. I thought they defended deeper as a result. We got our subs on at the right time, when we still have enough time to win the game. I thought there wasn't a lot in the first half. I thought we had good opportunities to get into good areas in the second half to maybe get a goal.

“Celtic brought that bit of quality to the game that separated the two teams. They hit us on the counter when the game got stretched. There's a calmness about Celtic's forward players when they get into those areas, they move their feet and wait for a better opportunity rather than snatching at the first opportunity. That's something I think a lot of good teams have, and a lot of good players have. We could do with a bit of that in our front play at times, looking for a better option.

“Box to box, there wasn't a lot of difference between the two teams, and I thought we were more than in the game. I always felt right until the final whistle goes that we would get something from it. A few more minutes, I think we do.

“I wanted to bring pace to try and threaten them. James Maddison these last couple of games hasn't been at his sparkling best but even if he had of been I thought the game would have been busy and frantic. We needed trust in the wider areas. We did not want Celtic overloading in the wider areas.

“I understand when you leave Maddison and Rooney out of the team and you don't win the game people wonder if it was the right thing, but I would do the same again. Every decision I make has a consequence and I do believe the time to bring Maddison and Rooney on was the right time (when they come on).

“I thought James in the last ten minutes brought a calmness and confidence. Good players have that, but we need to get the balance right between attacking and defending, so we are not out of the game before we get a chance to win the game.

“I thought the right players got cards (during the altercation on the half way line) and they deserved them. I thought the referee dealt with that situation the right way. I am a little disappointed with Lustig’s reaction.

“I've got a very good goalkeeper, I've been saying that for a while, saying how much confidence I've got in him. I think the work he does every day with Neil Alexander and Gordon Marshall helps him be ready for this type of game. He was a bit busier than he normally is for us. He's got a good presence and brings good saves at the right time. He brings that air of assurance to our defensive work.

“I was please with his performance. And others. I still think we can improve. We are disappointed because when you put so much into a game, both in thought and effort, you want to get some sort of reward from it. There are fine margins between getting a result and not.

“We now have to get a couple of wins before a cup final. It is important we go into the cup final in good form.

“There are acceptable ways of losing a game of football and I thought today was one of those. I don’t want a pat on the back for giving them a game. I thought we were more than that today. I thought we brought a competitive edge to our game and we deserved something.

“I thought the players did extremely well to take on that responsibility.”

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