“The result is always the most important thing.

“I was pleased with certain aspects of the game and I thought we rattled them at times and made them work hard. We started the game well and asked a few questions of their keeper, had a few moments of good pressure and played a lot of the opening period in their half. We started on the front foot and were quite positive with our line-up, Jonny Hayes was a threat and caused problems but we had to be full of concentration with our defensive work and I thought we defended really well.

“It then became a 45 minute game and that first goal became even more important. Celtic score a good goal from their point of view after Brown wins a tackle and I think Robson should look to tackle there rather than play a pass. Having said that they still had 80 yards to run but Celtic have got good players when there is plenty of grass to work with, they move it quickly and Armstrong did really well to create the goal and you have got to credit Scott Brown for getting on the end of it.

“From there on in we were throwing bodies forward and I thought we still looked likely to score but normally Celtic can pick you off and we have our goalkeeper to thank a couple of times for keeping us in it. While it is still 1-0 you always believe you have a chance and we had opportunities to score but we never and we got beat.

“It was a physical game at times and it was clear that both teams wanted to win, Celtic knew that they were in a game with a couple of players going down with cramp towards the end so it shows how hard they had to work and that pleases me because we didn’t want it to be a stroll for them up here.

“We didn’t get the result we wanted and we haven’t against them throughout the season and that has played a huge part in the outcome of our league campaign but we will be ready waiting for them next season and we will try to improve.

“Last season we managed to beat Celtic a couple of times but dropped points to others, this season we have been sensational against the other teams and we are pleased with that. But when things are tight no matter where you are in the league table it’s what you do against the teams around you that counts and particularly the couple of games we have played at Pittodrie when we have played well enough to win but haven’t done so.

“We got into good areas and the players did what we asked, we took a wee bit of a gamble with the set-up and at times we were man for man at the back. We wanted to play on the front foot with the game in their half and their centre halves who normally stroll through games will know they have been worked tonight.

“We obviously want to win our last two games but some boys will be rested now as we have a short break before we are back in for pre-season, some of these boys have been running since the 12th of June and we will be starting again in a few weeks’ time so we will take the luxury of resting down a few and giving them that extra time. Of course we still want to win the games and we will aim to win them but opportunities will be given to others.”

“We obviously want to win our last two games but some boys will be rested now as we have a short break before we are back in for pre-season, some of these boys have been running since the 12th of June and we will be starting again in a few weeks’ time so we will take the luxury of resting down a few and giving them that extra time. Of course we still want to win the games and we will aim to win them but opportunities will be given to others.”