Celtic depart top table in a feast for Morton

If anyone has the answer to that one, Neil Lennon would dearly like to hear from them - and soon.

For the fourth year running, his hunger to lift the trophy as a manager ended with him sick to the pit of his stomach.

Before now, Lennon has seen his side lose finals to Rangers and Kilmarnock, and go out at the semi-final stage to St Mirren.

This time, it was Championship side Morton who KO'd the Hoops, winning 1-0 after extra time for their first triumph at Parkhead since 1971.

Everyone expects the League Cup to throw up surprises. What they don't expect is Celtic to be on the end of one - certainly not at home in their first match of the competition.

But Morton didn't care. Certainly, sub Archie Campbell didn't when he cut in from the left and Efe Ambrose fell as he tried to go with him.

The ball struck the defender's left arm as he tumbled in the area, and ref Bobby Madden pointed to the spot.

Dougie Imrie - who at the end of 90 minutes had gone over to salute the Morton fans as though he thought the tie was over - had no hesitation taking the penalty, and thumped it down the middle as Lukasz Zaluska dived right.

The Celtic fans were silenced, the players in shock, the League Cup misery extended for another year.

Sure, it's tough to find an appetite for the League Cup when you have been dining at the Champions League table.

That's the case as much for players as it is for supporters.

However, while the atmosphere may have been more nine-volt battery than electric, retaining an appetite for what is laid before you is essential.

The fare served up by the Hoops was stodgy, and certainly won't have their punters asking for more.

While intent on making a serious play for the trophy, Lennon recognised the need to give a night off to some of the players who have carried much of the load in the first 13 matches of the two-month-old season.

That, in turn, allowed him to give some much-needed game time to the likes of Tom Rogic, Dylan McGeouch, Zaluska and new arrivals, Derk Boerrigter, Nir Biton and Teemu Pukki.

Just as important was who he kept in the starting XI, with Ambrose and Virgil van Dijk afforded the opportunity to further develop the partnership which has begun to flourish. Or, at least, that was the theory.

The first-half display betrayed the fact this was a team put together for the occasion, the lack of fluency, cohesion and understanding undermining any chance to sweep aside the Championship side's men in black.

Indeed, when they trooped off at the break, Morton were entitled to feel they had made a decent fist of it, their organisation and energy restricting Celtic to a handful of scoring opportunities.

The profligacy shown by the Hoops meant that none of these chances came close to being converted.

Biton had the best of them but sent a header wide and a volley over. When he did finally hit the target, after an hour, his shot was saved low at his left-hand post by Nicolas Caraux.

Boerrigter also had a chance with a header, but it is becoming clear this is not the Dutchman's forte and that first goal for the club still awaits.

By contrast, Pukki has looked like a goal machine with two in his first three appearances.

However, he, too, struggled to find his killer touch.

Charlie mulgrew looked the most likely to make the breakthrough, but the nearest he came in the first half was when he sent in a curling free-kick towards the top corner which Caraux flew across to tip over.

He had another go from a set-piece in injury-time, but this time a deflection carried it over before, in the dying seconds, he struck a post.

A rare moment of concern for Celtic's central pairing came after an hour when a foot race between them and Kabba Cham as they pursued a ball over the top ended with the No.48 sprawling into the box claiming a push by the Nigerian, an appeal dismissed on that occasion by the ref.

Rogic's outing ended after 65 minutes when he was replaced by Anthony Stokes, by which time the Aussie midfielder had seen Caraux make a TV save from a long-range shot.

With McGeouch and Boerrigter also getting the hook to allow Adam Matthews and Kris Commons into the action, Lennon's unease was tangible.

Five minutes into extra time, as Imrie rammed home his spot-kick, his worst fears were realised.

Celtic laid siege to Morton's goal from then until the end, and Mikael Lustig had the chance to take it to penalties, but somehow missed from very close range before a Mulgrew shot struck the woodwork.

Only the ref's final whistle ended the agony for Lennon and the competition for his side.