John Kennedy insists Celtic had more than enough chances against Rangers before exiting the Scottish Cup at Ibrox.
An acrobatic finish from midfielder Steven Davis after 10 minutes and a Jonjoe Kenny own goal gave the newly-crowned Premiership champions the chance to host St Johnstone in the quarter-finals but it did not tell the full story.
Celtic, who went into the game against their Old Firm rivals having won the trophy a record four successive times, missed a series of opportunities including a 79th-minute penalty which Rangers keeper Allan McGregor saved from Hoops striker Odsonne Edouard.
Interim boss Kennedy, who watched his side thrash Livingston 6-0 last week, said: “We had a lot of shots, probably five good opportunities you want to take.
“The difference in the game is Rangers had a couple of half chances, one breaks to them and the other one is a flash across goal and they take them.
“You’ve seen the penalty today, even Stephen Welsh first half, Moi (Mohamed Elyounoussi) has had a chance, Odsonne had a chance, for a game like this that is more than enough to go and take care of the game and then obviously Rangers score two and that puts you on the back foot.
“We have not been in that form consistently enough to have that full belief. We had it last week in abundance but you have to build that up again.
“We have been there before in terms of being relentless in front of goal and putting teams to bed, we have gone through a difficult patch this season when that has not been the case, for me a large part of it is confidence.
“So it is something we just have to work at, build the confidence up and look at things going forward.”
Rangers brought the Premiership title back from Parkhead for the first time in a decade and their cup win ensured Celtic will be trophy-less for the first time since 2010.
Former Hoops defender Kennedy believes the missed chances in part summed up the season.
He said: “A little bit. In terms of where we’ve been this year, on numerous occasions that’s been the case and it’s disappointing that it’s resurfaced again.
“But we have to address that. We have been so successful for a long period of time and when you hit a setback and things aren’t quite falling for you, it all seems to come at the one time and that’s been the case.
“We have to take what we can out of the season, it’s not been a very successful one but sometimes that can make you stronger.
“Dealing with that hurt, dealing with the setbacks, make sure you address that properly and move forward.”
