69 games without losing will never be equalled: Rodgers

BRENDAN RODGERS insists his squad should be proud of their recordbreaking run after Hearts ended the Invincibles.

The Celtic boss admitted his men were second best in yesterday’s Tynecastle drubbing as the Jambos ran amok in the capital to bring the Parkhead club’s 69-match unbeaten charge to a shuddering halt.

Rodgers refused to slaughter his men for the Gorgie gubbing though as he insisted Celts can hold their heads high.

He said: “My feeling is of pride in the players. That’s the run of 69 games come to an end but it was a real historical achievement.

“I thanked them. To go undefeated for 69 games, whatever level it is, whatever competition, it’s a remarkable achievement.

“The players will go down in history because I don’t think it will be done again. But it’s in the past now and one of the key things in success is looking forward.”

Rodgers (inset) rallied his players in a huddle on the Tynecastle pitch after the 4-0 hammering and saluted the supporters.

The Hoops boss insisted Celtic will take the defeat on the chin and look to kickstart another run. He said: “It was always going to happen. It’s never nice when it does.

“I wanted to pull the players together and tell them, Hearts were better than us today and we have to accept it.

“But what they have done is truly amazing. They need to use this feeling that we haven’t felt for 18 months as a lever moving forward.”

He added: “We made too many mistakes to get anything out of it.

“We put a bit of risk in to the second half when we were 2-0 down and went all out but we lost poor goals.

“We failed to cope with their style, in the first half in particular. We didn’t defend well enough.”