Ange Postecoglou turns attention to Premiership after Celtic's cup disappointment

Ange Postecoglou admitted his disappointment at Celtic’s Scottish Cup exit to Rangers and then said the team had to use that energy to complete the job and win the Premiership.

Greg Taylor had given Celtic the lead over their rivals in the semi-final at Hampden but Scott Arfield scored to take the match to extra time before Fashion Sakala pressured Carl Starfelt into putting the ball into his own net.

The goal ended Celtic’s dreams of a domestic treble and Postecoglou said the team were unhappy at letting their support down and at missing out on their opportunity to have a chance at more silverware in the final against Hearts.

“We’ve had to be resilient all year, and this is another challenge for us,” the Celtic boss said. “You know, we are disappointed.

“We’re disappointed that we didn’t get to another final. We’re disappointed for our fans, you know, disappointed that we couldn’t take the opportunity for us.”

Attention will now turn to the league, where Celtic have a six-point lead and superior goal difference to Rangers as they enter the final stretch. The manager called on the players to use their disappointment as “fuel” to secure the title.

“We’ve just got to make sure that irrespective of what happened today, we’ve five games to be champions of this country,” he said. “And, you know, that’s doesn’t change for us.

“So we’ve got five games there to concentrate on, starting next week and making sure we use today’s disappointment to fuel our endeavours in this next series of games.”