Neil Lennon described Celtic ’s 1-0 defeat to Ross County as a “head scratcher” and insisted they were better than when they won 5-0 at the same ground in September.
Jordan White’s second half header was enough to give County a first home win over the Hoops since 2013 and lift them off the bottom of the Premiership table.
Lennon ’s side are now back to 18 points adrift of Rangers, who are now just seven points away from officially stopping the ten.
Despite missing some great and playing the price, Lennon doesn’t feel his team played badly.
He said: “It’s a strange one and it sort of encapsulates the season really. We’ve missed some unbelievable chances and then we can’t defend a set play for some reason.
“It’s a head scratcher because we were totally dominant.
“I said before the game that we won 5-0 in September and we played nowhere near as well as we did tonight and we got nothing for it. It’s a difficult one to stomach.
“Our decision making at times in the game and our final ball let us down. Getting on the end of crosses has been lacking a lot this season as well. But we didn’t play badly and I don’t think we deserved to lose the game. But we have done.”
Lennon was particularly frustrated at his team’s continued inability to defend their box from set pieces. He insists it’s something they’ve worked on all season, but doesn’t know what more he can do to fix it if his players won’t learn lessons.
He told Sky Sports: “We’re not learning from defending set plays. Ross County maybe had the ball in our box once or twice in the second half, maybe the whole game and we’ve conceded a free header form the biggest guy in the team. We should be dealing with it comfortably.
“It’s been a weakness of ours all season. I can’t change it now. We’ve got a lot of players out but heading the ball is part of the game. Defending set plays is part of the game and we’ve not done that anywhere near well enough this season.
“We can tell them and set them up ad nauseum on the training ground but you;ve got to want to go and head the ball in both boxes and we haven’t done that well enough this season. That’s all.
“I’m bitterly disappointed because they’re good enough to learn . Maybe they don’t want to get hurt or throw their body in the way of things. It’s not good enough.”
Pressure will increase on lennon after the embarrassing defeat, and the board as the season limps to a conclusion.
But the under fire boss had a message for the at best disgruntled fans.
He said: “There’s scrutiny on me all the time so I don’t think that’s going to change.
“This is a result that’s happened, but we were in total control. The chances we missed were, particularly in the first half, were unbelievable.
“I’m sorry for the fans. We’ve let them down again. It;s not for the want of trying to win a game of football. We’re bitterly disappointed.”
