NEIL Lennon expressed huge disappointment in the wake of Celtic’s departure from the UEFA Europa League this evening (Thursday), but said he and his players must bounce back on Sunday against St Johnstone in their Scottish Cup quarter final tie.

The manager praised the character his side showed to draw level after conceding against FC Copenhagen, but said the Scottish champions shot themselves in the foot by then losing two late goals.

“As you can imagine I’m hugely disappointed,” said Neil Lennon following tonight’s game. “In the first half, we were in total control, they had a couple of corners, but we had all the flow, we hit the post and we played balls across the goal.

“We then made a mistake which gave them oxygen. We had to change the shape to get back into the game. We did that, then we equalised, deservedly so. But then we mismanaged the game and shot ourselves in the foot for the second goal, and then the other after that.”

The manager rued what he described as a ‘missed opportunity’ to further their European campaign this year, and suggested overplaying in the defensive third contributed to the final result.

Now, he and his players must look ahead to Sunday’s Scottish Cup quarter-final against St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park.

He added: “These players have been absolutely brilliant for me, they deserved better, but that’s football. When you make individual errors, you give the opposition chances.

“We’ve had a good run, and I’m really disappointed it’s ended. I hope it’s not hard to pick the players up. We’ve got another big game on Sunday. But I’m not going to throw anyone under a bus. We win as a team, we lose as a team. We’ve let ourselves down in really important moments in the game.

“They’ll be hurting at the minute, as will the fans. It’s basic mistakes that cost us. We need to make sure we learn from them, but it’s bitterly disappointing to throw it away tonight in the final five minutes. That’s inexcusable from our point of view.”

Neil Lennon: We’re hugely disappointed but must recover quickly