SCOTT Brown admitted that it was a below par performance from Celtic which saw the Hoops lose 2-0 away to Livingston.

Reduced to 10 men in the first-half after Ryan Christie was red-carded, Neil Lennon’s side conceded two second-half goals to suffer their first domestic defeat of the season.

“It was always going to be hard but we’ve won with 10 men before,” the Celtic captain said. “We know how we play but we’ve got to defend from the front and work better as a team.

“It was a hard day and Livingston made it very difficult for us. They were aggressive and on the front foot and we didn’t play as well as we probably should have done on the day.

“They’re well-organised, and they played really well while we didn’t play as well as we could have. We want to win every single game, home and away, so for us to come and drop three points is disappointing, but it’s a long, long season and we’ll need to make sure we play better next time.”

Christie’s red card came after 26 minutes following a challenge on Scott Robinson, and the Hoops skipper explained that there was no malice in the tackle from a player who has been a key figure for the team this season.

It was Robinson who opened the scoring for the home side within 90 seconds of the restart, while Lyndon Dykes doubled their lead later in the half.

Now, with a break in domestic football for the latest round of international fixtures, Brown and his team-mates will have to wait two weeks before they can rectify matters, with a home game against Ross County on October 19.

“It wasn’t our day, so we’ll go back and assess what went wrong and put it right,” he said. “It’s disappointing, especially going into the international break because it’s a couple of weeks before our next game.

“We’ve lost the lead before in the league during the season and we’ve bounced back, and that’s what this team’s got – grit and willingness to win games.”

Scott Brown: Disappointing result but we will bounce back