Scott Brown takes pop at Kilmarnock players after shock Celtic defeat

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Celtic left Rugby Park with a loss for the first time in 15 visits to East Ayrshire.

Celtic captain Scott Brown, 32, has taken a pop at Kilmarnock players, mocking them for their over the top celebrations following their 1-0 victory over the Scottish treble-winners on Saturday, according to the Daily Record.

The Hoops lost only their second domestic game under Brendan Rodgers after Youssouf Mulumbu’s 70th-minute strike was enough to secure victory for Steve Clarke’s men.

The result in itself was bad enough for Celtic, yet it was made far worse by the fact that both Kristoffer Ajer and Dedryk Boyata limped off, leaving Jack Hendry to partner makeshift centre-half Nir Bitton for the latter stages of the game.

Deadline day signing Hendry looked to struggle at points on his debut, but despite this Celtic will be very pleased to have captured him with their defensive injury crisis going from bad to worse ahead of next week’s Europa League tie against Zenit St Petersburg.

Speaking to the media after the loss, Celtic skipper Brown was quick to mock the Kilmarnock players for the celebrations, citing their level of excitement over the win as a direct representation of his own side’s achievements in the last 18 months.

According to the Daily Record Brown said, “It wasn’t our best performance. They defended quite well and made it hard for us, and we just couldn’t get the chances we would have liked.

“People will try different things to beat us because we’ve done so well.

“Kilmarnock beat us and you saw their players celebrating in front of our fans like they’d won the World Cup.”

Brown went on to rue Celtic’s injury problems, but was quick to dismiss them as an excuse for the loss.

“The injuries made it hard,” Brown said, “We were on top at that point and then we lost our two centre-halves.

“It’s always hard to get injuries during games, especially to two quality players with height and pace at the back.

“That changed the game a bit and the momentum we had. But we have a huge squad so we just need to deal with it. That’s part and parcel of football.”

Despite Celtic dropping some unexpected points, Rangers were unable to capitalise as they suffered a 2-1 defeat to Hibs at home.

Aberdeen were able to close the gap to eight points, however, with a commanding win over Hamilton, proving themselves still to be Celtic’s closest challengers.