Apologetic Celtic star vows to right the wrongs of cup final defeat as he sends Wilfried Nancy confession
Dejected Hoops defender reckons supporters deserve an apology following the 3-1 loss to St Mirren at Hampden Park
Liam Scales has apologised to the Celtic fans after the Premier Sports Cup final holders were turned over 3-1 by brilliant St Mirren which continued new boss Wilfried Nancy’s nightmare start to his Hoops tenure.
A second-half brace from towering striker Jonah Ayunga secured the first silverware of the season for the Buddies after Celtic midfielder Reo Hatate had cancelled out a second-minute opener from Marcus Fraser at a rain-swept Hampden Park.
Former Columbus Crew head coach Nancy became the first Parkhead boss to lose his opening three games after defeats to Hearts and Roma last week and the cup final loss will pile more pressure on the Frenchman and the Celtic hierarchy, who were again subject to anti-board chants throughout the game.
Scales, who was given a tough time up against Saints’ front pair of Ayunga and Dan Nlundulu, was at a loss as to why the Scottish champions had endured such a bad run of results having won five on the bounce under caretaker Martin O’Neill.
The Republic of Ireland defender said: “It’s bitterly disappointing. I think the fans probably deserve an apology for the performances over the last week.
“We know it hasn’t good enough, and we need to pull together as players, just adapt and take responsibility and be a better team. We’re really going work hard to do that.
“But, you have to credit, St Mirren as well. They deserved it today. They were really good. They were well organised and it’s they’re day, so big credit goes to them.”
A third consecutive defeat extended Nancy’s wait for a first victory, but Scales insists that nothing has been lost in translation, despite the new man in charge sticking to his guns and deploying a back three.
When asked if the squad were having difficulties to take Nancy’s message on board, Scales responded: “It’s a tough one to answer, to be honest. I can’t put my finger on it. His (manager) message to us in clear. We’ve just got to go again and keep working on things, and in time it will come.
“Probably for me, playing in a four and then an outside in the three, you probably do a little bit more running, but we’re all fit players. No, we know what we’re being asked to do. We’ve just played a different way for so long. So that’s it.
Scales: ‘We have to stick together and get through tough times like this’
“If the manager is wedded to this system, then we have to adapt to him. I think we all just have to stick together and to get through times like this. We’ve done it before. We’ve had tough times, but we’ve just stuck together and got through it, and we’ve had good times since.”
Celtic have now lost back-to-back cup finals following a defeat to Aberdeen on penalties in last season’s Scottish Cup final in May but Scales admits they don’t have time to dwell on their latest setback.
He admitted: “We don’t have much time to sulk. We have another game in three days. We’ll come in, train tomorrow and recover. I think the best thing to do is get it out of our system by midnight tonight, that’s it.
“You’ve got to just get on with things. You take the time to sort of be angry, sad, whatever, but after that, it’s got to be put out the window.
‘We’re all professionals. We should be able to adapt’
“We’re used to this busy schedule; we’re used to games every few days. It’s just a dip in form, I suppose, and it’s down to us to turn that around. We’re all professionals, we should be able to adapt. It’s just been a tough week.
“We’ve had defeats like this before because we had one last season (against Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup final). You don’t want to be in that position, but it’s a mad game so anything can happen.
“I don’t think I have an answer for what’s not clicking, to be honest. We’re just trying to win games, and it’s raw at the moment. We all just have to stick together and get through it.”