DANNY LENNON has warned his St Mirren side they have no time to feel sorry for themselves over their Dundee United debacle.

The Buddies blew a two-goal lead at Tannadice to slip to an agonising injury-time defeat that has left them isolated in the SPFL Premiership relegation play-off spot.

Next up for the Paisley men is a daunting trip to Parkhead to meet champions-elect Celtic and Lennon knows it will be vital to lift his troops for the march on the East End.

While the Buddies' boss was enraged by the clearly offside opening goal that sparked United's comeback, he was still determined to take the positives from his side's display.

The St Mirren manager said: "We have to put this one to bed and focus on what lies ahead. It is Celtic next at Parkhead for us and we can't let this one linger.

"There were so many positives to take in terms of our work rate and application and we stopped United finding any fluency.

"To lose a two-goal lead and do so with the injury-time goal was obviously hard to take, but we need to show character and resilience now.

"For nearly 80 minutes we had the better of it and in terms of performance levels we have a platform to build on."

Of United's first goal he said: "Once again a big decision has gone against us and that turned the game.

"I thought there was more than one United player offside but it has not been given and all of a sudden they have a lifeline. Obviously Marian Kello was disappointed with their winner, but he has been our saviour on many an occasion since he came to St Mirren and I am not going to blame him.

"Unfortunately, when you are at the foot of the table things can conspire against you, but we still have it in us to get out of this and make ourselves safe."

It was the industrious Saints who took a deserved lead after 20 minutes when unmarked Paul McGowan headed home a Marc McAusland free-kick.

Four minutes from the break Saints added a second after John McGinn's low cut-back was miscued by Gavin Gunning, cannoning off Stevie Thompson and into the net, with the crestfallen Radoslaw Cierzniak stranded.

With St Mirren apparently cruising towards a vital victory the game changed in 79 minutes.

Despite enraged howls for offside from the visitors, Nadir Ciftci's clever reverse pass found the overlapping Ryan Dow whose return pass across the box was sidefooted home by Brian Graham from point-blank range.

With the Buddies badly unsettled by their sense of injustice, United took full advantage and Stuart Armstrong equalised with six minutes left.

But there was more pain ahead for Saints. Three minutes into injury-time Marian Kello spilled Dow's drive after treating the ball like a bar of soap, and Ciftci poked it home.

The goal condemned the Paisley men to a gut-wrenching defeat that may have damaging implications in the weeks ahead.