Martin O'Neill thinks Celtic 'had enough' to win Falkirk game

Martin O'Neill spoke after Celtic's defeat to Falkirk, praising opposition goalkeeper Scott Bain for keeping the Bhoys at bay.

Celtic conceded two poor goals but had enough chances to win two games. Camilo Durán hit the post, and Bain in the Falkirk goal made save after save to somehow keep a clean sheet, condemning Celtic to their second league defeat of the season.

"Yeah, naturally disappointing. I'm disappointed to have lost the game, first of all," said O'Neill after the game.

"But we had a lot of chances. A lot of chances. The goalkeeper was magnificent all afternoon. Yeah, but naturally we've lost the game, so it's very disappointing."

He added: "I said to them at half-time, I thought we were still well in the game. I thought we played some really decent stuff.

"The problem when you do concede, if you concede a really magnificent goal, then I think you just take that and you just try and take that in your stride.

"We've conceded it, which from any viewpoint I think would have been a very poor goal. And so tough to get back. Then the goalkeeper makes some great saves and it becomes a wee bit frustrating.

"But it was one of those afternoons where we could, despite our mistakes at the back, we had enough chances to win the game."

Celtic sloppy at the back

While one could make the case Celtic were unlucky at the top end of the pitch, they were particularly sloppy at the back here. Cameron Carter-Vickers gave away a goal by making two mistakes in one phase of play, and Callum McGregor failed to track his men to give away another, with both goals having been very preventable.

"Of course, of course (I'm disappointed with the goals)," O'Neill added. "They were very poor, from our viewpoint. The first one, we hadn't cleared it, and the second one we've allowed somebody to just run through and pick a spot.

"But we had some really great chances, we just weren't able to convert."

The goals conceded are the biggest concern for Celtic, especially with how they are being sliced open by better teams in the Europa League, and they welcome Besiktas in a must-win game on Thursday night.

Chances at the other end will be converted on another day, but the goals conceded aren't about bad luck at all. Those defensive issues need to be addressed.