CELTIC begin the defence of the League Cup tomorrow (Saturday) against Dunfermline and Leigh Griffiths admits he and his team-mates must put on the kind of performance that will help heal the wounds of missing out of the group stages of the Champions League.

The Treble Treble winners will welcome the Pars to Paradise tomorrow for the second round of the League Cup four days after exiting the Champions League at the hands of Romanian champions CFR Cluj.

Griffiths said he and the rest of the team are still feeling the disappointment of the result but insists they will pick themselves up for tomorrow’s cup game.

“The mood in the team hasn’t been the greatest but we need to pick ourselves back up again,” said the Hoops striker. “We have a game tomorrow so we need to bounce back and show what we’re all about.

“We heard the frustrations at the whistle. It wasn’t to be this year and that’s difficult to take. We put so much into pre-season and sometimes you need that bit of luck to go with you, luck wasn’t with us on the night so we pick ourselves up and go back again.

“At a club like this you have to put it to your back of the mind because we got a cup game tomorrow. Ultimately we want to go win that. Defence of the trophy starts now.”

Stevie Crawford’s side are underdogs for the tie but Griffiths said he anticipates that the Championship side will have a game plan to make things difficult for the Hoops.

“Dunfermline will come and try make it difficult for us,” said Griffiths. “They’ll sit back and try play on the counter-attack but it’s about what we do.

“Dunfermline will be looking come and get a scalp, they’ll think we are still licking our wounds a bit. It’s about what we do and we have to turn up with the right mentality and show them respect, as we always do, and go play the game we play."

Griffiths: Bhoys must put on a performance against Pars