Dundee United assistant boss Simon Donnelly admitted his side’s poor defending cost them dear as they were dumped out of the Scottish Cup at Celtic Park.
The Hoops took the lead in the first half through Jason Denayer with Leigh Griffiths doubling their advantage before the hour mark.
Any thoughts United may have had about staging an incredible comeback were finally snuffed out when Kris Commons netted a third for the Hoops.
Then in an explosive ending to the game, Celtic’s Anthony Stokes and United’s Ryan McGowan were sent off in separate incidents before Virgil van Dijk added a fourth for the home side.
Donnelly was keen to concentrate on the football rather than the disciplinary problems that have seen six players dismissed in the three games between the sides in just 10 days.
He said: “It is not ideal.
“We want to focus on the football but it came late in the game.
“You guys are going to be talking about it and it will be in the press but I would like to focus on the football.
“They were bad goals from our point of view. Celtic are dangerous at set-plays and they have good height.
“We have to defend the first goal better but then we are on the back foot.
“I felt we didn’t do ourselves justice in terms of keeping the ball in the first half.
“We had a wee flurry in the first 10 minutes of the second and then they score their second which was a body blow and it was an uphill task after that.”
Earlier, Celtic boss Ronnie Deila had claimed that McGowan’s challenge on sub Liam Henderson, “could have injured him for life”.
However, Donnelly felt on first viewing that it was a fair challenge and questioned if it was any worse than Celtic skipper Scott Brown’s at Tannadice on Nadir Ciftci.
He said: “I would have to see it again. It was a strong, fair challenge but I might be wrong.
“The Celtic reaction on the back of their player being sent off may have influenced the referee but I will need to look at it again.
“But is it any worse than Scott Brown’s two weeks ago?”
Deila, though, said: “It is stupid to tackle like that on the sidelines. We need to get that out of football.
“It is a youngster standing there with a little trick. You can either stay or go in with both feet, as I see it. You can injure him for life.
“But I have to see it one more time. He must be frustrated, that’s why he did it.
Of the Stokes red card, the Norwegian said: “There were some angry and disappointed players. I spoke a bit to Stokesy, he got a knock in his mouth and was bleeding in a challenge with Paton and he reacted.
“I have to see it again to see if it was a red card. But I was delighted with the game.”
Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths expects more of the same in the league game at the weekend. He said: “ If I was a betting man I would be putting money on a sending off on Saturday.”