Livingston 2-0 Celtic: Neil Lennon says side must learn from first defeat
- Published
Neil Lennon's side failed to score a single goal for the first time since 12 May
Manager Neil Lennon says he won't "whip" his Celtic players after Livingston inflicted their first Scottish Premiership defeat of the season.
Goals from Lyndon Dykes and Scott Robinson caused the champions to drop points for the second week in a row after a 1-1 draw at Hibs.
Ryan Christie was also sent off in the first half as Celtic struggled.
"We weren't anywhere near as ruthless as we could've been," said Lennon.
"At 1-0 we were forcing the issue and looking okay, and the second goal is really poor. I don't think that's down to being down to 10 men, we should deal with that, it's a straight long ball over the top.
"We have to, at times, roll our sleeves up and do the nuts and bolts of the game more."
'It's a learning curve from the new players'
Prior to the defeat, Celtic had picked up 19 points from a possible 21 in their first seven Premiership games.
Lennon's side also failed to score a single goal for the first time since their 2-0 defeat to Rangers on 12 May last season.
However, their manager believes his side have to simply "accept" the result and move on.
"It's our first defeat," said the Celtic manager, who said he had no complaints over Christie's red card. "We have to accept it, look where we went wrong, can't be too emotional about it. We were too emotional in the game.
"It's a learning curve for some of the new ones that not everyone is going to let you play the way you want, you have to earn the right to play.
"With 11 men, it's difficult enough. With ten, it became more difficult. The game just got away from us."