Celtic No 2 John Collins says trip to Dundee is ideal way to get over Hampden heartache

Celtic assistant manager John Collins says Wednesday's trip to Dundee affords his side the ideal opportunity to 'move on' from the disappointment of Sunday's Scottish Cup semi-final exit.

Ronny Deila's side have the chance to move eight points clear of Aberdeen, with a vastly superior goal difference, with victory in their game in hand at Dens Park.

And Collins is looking for his charges to bounce back from the disappointment of seeing their treble hopes disappear at the national stadium after their 3-2 extra-time defeat to Inverness.

The outcome of the five-goal thriller turned on the incident shortly before half time which saw Inverness defender Josh Meekings go unpunished after he clearly handled a goal-bound header from Hoops striker Leigh Griffiths.

Celtic have asked the SFA for clarification on exactly how the referee Steven McLean and his assistants missed the handball but Collins would not be drawn on the controversy at the pre-match press conference at Lennoxtown.

"We were obviously disappointed by the key decision in the game, but we move on," said the former Hibernian manager.

"I've been in football a long time and the most important thing is how you react and bounce back and the good thing for us as a football team is that we have a game on Wednesday night."

Asked if he had demanded an answer from the officials over the handball after the game, he said: "No. I never speak to officials after games. 

"But if you asked any football manager or coach anywhere in the world if they would like an answer from officials after the game, just to clarify their decision, they would all say the same thing and this is they would love to have an answer.

"But they would all get the same answer... I never saw it."