Fran Alonso said that despite his side not advancing to the semi-finals of the Sky Sports Cup, he can’t be too hard on the team for their efforts, as a late equaliser forced Celtic into extra time and penalties, where they ultimately fell short against Edinburgh side Spartans.

The Spaniard’s side was reduced to ten when Jacynta was dismissed in the first-half and despite creating numerous opportunities to put the game to bed, it wasn’t to be in the end, as he now looks towards a huge return to league action with a trip to Glasgow City next weekend.

“It was a dominating performance," he said. "I thought the girls played really well. I have to be proud of them, even being down to ten.

“I don’t know why the sending-off happened but obviously that changed the game. We created chance after chance even with ten and I don’t know how many chances we got but I only recall one shot from them and that was the equaliser in injury time.

'We have to be disappointed because we really wanted to be in the next round and we did everything, I think, to deserve to be there'

'I think that’s one of the best performances I’ve seen from a goalkeeper against us, she was definitely the player of the match.'

“The penalties are a lottery - it could go either way and today it went their way but for me, I’m proud of the performance of the team.

"However, the most important thing was going through, it wasn’t about the performance today so that’s very disappointing for us.”

Despite not taking the chances, the manager wasn’t too disheartened and again touched on the fight his side showed after a blistering start to the season.

He said: “They wanted to take the chances, sometimes it was the post and sometimes it was the goalkeeper with outstanding saves, so I thought maybe in the first half we didn’t hit the areas we wanted but I thought in the second-half, despite having 10 we played the whole game in their half.

'I don’t remember our goalkeeper making any saves. I thought it was a game that we should have killed, so that’s obviously a learning lesson.'

“I cannot be too tough on the players because they deserved to win and they fought very hard even with 10 but they didn’t win so we have to congratulate the opponent, wish them the best for the next round and try to learn.”

Glasgow City is next up away from home and Alonso knows his side has to take stock quickly and move forward, as they look to retain their spot on the table above their city rivals.

“There’s never a good time to lose," he added. "This was a very important week to have a good performance and a good win if we could keep up the momentum and morale before a massive game for us but now, it’s going to test the team’s strength.

“We will make sure everyone is up to the standards we require for Celtic Football Club and hopefully on Sunday, we will have the team playing at their best because all season we have been outstanding, including today we were good, but you can’t always win."

Fran Alonso: I'm proud of the girls despite defeat