Although he was frustrated by the 5-1 scoreline at Celtic Park, Jimmy Thelin was nonetheless defiant afterwards, insisting that the Dons are still moving towards their long-term goals.

“The overall result is 5-1, it’s disappointing in the end. But some parts we did in the first half were good, how we created the chances. We have two really good chances before they scored, but it’s 3-0 at half-time. When you lose the ball in the wrong area they punish you directly. They are so quick there and clinical and so we need to protect the ball better in some areas. It’s difficult to go out in the second half then, and Celtic are really good when the opposition have to chase something. 

“When you come here, when you get these chances, you have to get a goal. I think it’s difficult to talk about positive things when you’re losing 5-1, but the way we created the chances was good. But we have to believe in what we’re doing. How can you otherwise grow in the way you want to grow if you don’t challenge yourself? 

“You can play the game here in different ways, you can play really low and defend and just try to survive, but we try to grow with our identity. Of course we didn’t want 5-1 today, but we’re trying to get better for the future and keep challenging in the short term. 

“For the journey we are on, how we want to grow as a team, what we can improve, we can see what we have to learn from them, this extra percent in quality, how you defend, how you use your chances you created and how to keep the balance when they are so good in the transitions. We have to take the learning points and improve and move on to the next game.

“We are clear what we want to achieve and what we have to focus on. We are going to challenge for this third spot to qualify for Europe and now we have a really important game on Sunday for this aim at home against Dundee United. I’m 100% sure that the team are going to be really strong on Sunday. We are going to take the learning points from this game and take a big step this week and be ready.”