Postecoglou blames poor 'work ethic' as Celtic slide to league defeat in 364 days

Ange Postecoglou has slammed Celtic's 'work ethic' as the Scottish Premiership champions suffered their first league defeat in 364 days at St Mirren on Sunday.

Mark O'Hara led the Paisley side in the first half, before Jonah Ayunga added a second after the break to hand Celtic their first loss since September 19 last year.< /p>

The loss was just Celtic's second in their last 27 visits to St Mirren, and Postecoglou admitted their side were well below their usual standards.

"We just weren't aggressive in both action and thought," he said. “We kind of tried to force our way into a football game and you just can't do that. You must have been there from the start and we weren't.

"You don't attribute it to one of those days; it's a disappointing day. We pride ourselves on having certain standards and we haven't met them. And football will always teach you that lesson.

"What has gotten us to this point over the past 15 or 16 months is having a certain work ethic and certain levels of performance and belief. We haven't achieved any of those- We gotta take the hits when they come and we just gotta get up and go.

"We've done this as a team before for the last 15 or 16 months. It's painful, it's the one we have to use as the fuel we need to get going again.

“We were nowhere near the levels we want to be. Credit to St Mirren. They worked really hard and were really committed to their game plan. never reached the levels needed to play our football. It's about dusting ourselves off and starting over."

Celtic have a two-point lead over bitter rivals Rangers at the summit of the Scottish Premiership ahead of the international break.