When the Dundee team bus broke down on London Road on Wednesday night, their players probably should have known that it was an ominous portent of things to come. But they aren’t using the disruption to their pre-game preparations as an excuse for what followed at Celtic Park.

The more worrying aspect of the evening for Dundee was how the wheels came off in such spectacular fashion in a first half in Glasgow in which they shipped six goals and were perhaps fortunate not to concede a couple more.

Ricki Lamie was part of a defensive unit that were torn asunder by Celtic, and the centre back knows that while the level shown by his team in that opening 45 minutes was uncharacteristic in the context of their season, it was also unacceptable.

So, the post-mortem in the coming days will look for answers, of course, but there will be no pretence that they weren’t the ones ultimately responsible for the severity of the defeat.

“That's the third time something has come up this year,” Lamie said.

“I don't think you can put it down to anything. We had good pre-match, good preparation the day before in terms of the build-up and how we wanted to execute the game plan. A wee lapse a mile up the road certainly wasn't an excuse to concede seven goals.

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“It seemed to be a wee bit repetitive [the manner of the goals Celtic scored], that was frustrating from a defensive point of view. If you concede one or two of those types of goals you don't want to let it happen again, but it seemed to.

"I don't know [what went wrong], we allowed them too much space and when you allow quality players space, inevitably you are going to get hurt.

“I have been there plenty of times where it went both ways - you can frustrate them and don't allow them that space, but if you allow them that space, they are going to hurt you and you are relying on them not taking chances. Unfortunately for us they did most times.

“You can't just brush if off, it shouldn't happen. But it's one of those ones where you say it's a blip. “It's easy to say that now but a couple of days and you get to go again and put it right. It's important to do that.”

The one crumb of comfort that Dundee could take from the evening is that they limited the damage in the second half, and Michael Mellon’s well taken goal late on even ensured that they came out level over the course of the second 45.

That didn’t help lift the mood in the dressing room afterwards, which Lamie described as ‘sombre’, but it did at least show that while their professional pride had taken a dent, it remained intact.

“Listen, you would be asking questions if it doesn't hurt you as a professional,” he said.

“It hurt me. As a defender as well it's embarrassing to concede that many goals. But listen, plenty of teams have gone there and conceded heavily or been dominated from the first whistle. Not every team can bounce back straight after.

“It's a massive game on Saturday [against Kilmarnock]. When you look at results elsewhere we probably got away with it in terms of the league table, so it's imperative that we pick ourselves up and go again.

“There's plenty in that dressing room, a blend of young, energetic players that want to do well and kick on, and a wee bit of experience as well, who have been on the back of poor results but know how it is to bounce back.

“At half-time, everybody talks about character and personality, it was personal pride really, for me anyway. The gaffer touched upon it, 'go out and try and win the second half'. Again, it's even harder again with 10 men.

“When they are five or six goals to the good, it's probably fair to say they maybe weren't as at it as they were in the first half, but I thought we showed a wee bit of personality.

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“It's just down to pride. You can come out and go through the motions, but to go out and ask a couple of questions, it was a great finish from Micky.

“Not that it means a lot, but in terms of having that bit about us, I think that's another positive to take on a poor night.”