“It is a tough one to take. We were excellent in the second half and deserved a point. To get done with a goal like that, where it looks like he is offside, it looks like there is foul on Bates to me as well, it is harsh on the boys. It was the same last weekend, we are not getting any luck with some of the decisions at the minute. When you are not on a good run these sort of things don’t go your way. Celtic are on a good run and it goes their way, that is just the way it works. It is disappointing but it is out of our control and we just need to move on.

“We changed shape at half time and we made a couple of subs, we were a lot more aggressive, there was a bit of belief in the side to go and press them and keep them at bay and not just let them knock it around. We didn’t get near them in the first half, they knocked it about pretty well to be fair to them. They always start pretty quickly, we knew that but we have got to start the game the way we started the second half. We were really aggressive, got in their faces and didn’t let them play. Sometimes in certain games the change of shape helps you.

“From the start we have got to have that mentality and belief that we can go and get after Celtic, that we can take the ball off of them high up the pitch and not allow them to enjoy the game. Teams should not come to Pittodrie and enjoy a game of football. The second half is what we were all about, getting in their faces and we got our goals from that.

“There was a lot of positives in the second half performance, we got two goals, we were really aggressive, our press was good and we just played much, much better. We have got to take our second half performance into the weekend and start games like that.

“My free-kick in the second half was close, it was just rising too much. I thought I caught it pretty well. It never hit the target which was disappointing. It is always good to score but it is disappointing when you don’t win.

It doesn’t really mean as much.

“I felt as if the boy wasn’t really looking at the ball or making an attempt to play the ball (O’Riley penalty incident in the second half). He was trying to put his body into me. If it is anywhere else on the park it is probably a foul, if it is in the penalty area it is not a foul. At the time I thought he wasn’t making an attempt to play the ball and he was purely focusing on me. That is why I was asking the question.

“The Scottish Cup game on Saturday is massive. We want to do well in the cups when we set our aims at the start of the season. Going on cup runs is big for this club, hopefully we can go and put on a winning performance and be in the next round.

“It is pretty tight at the moment. We need to be a lot more consistent. Our home form has been pretty decent but our away form has been dreadful. That has cost us big time. We need to get our act together pretty quick and go on a run of games. When you go on a run of games you can climb the table pretty quickly.”