Celtic manager Tony Mowbray on the brink after latest defeat

• Tony Mowbray can't bear to look as Celtic lose to St Mirren. Picture: SNS

A seventh league defeat and 13th reverse of an ill-starred ten-month tenure for the Englishman, his position will be regarded untenable even among the club's most reasonable followers.

The calamitous outcome for Mowbray resulted from the concession of two goals in the last five minutes as he fielded six attackers. Mowbray's post-match attempts at defiance and his desperate tactical gamble to retrieve a 2-0 deficit proved as lame as his team's efforts on one of the sorriest nights of the club's recent history.

Asked if he had doubts over his job, he replied: "I don't want to get into that tonight, I don't think it's a pertinent question," he said.

"I tried to be positive lost a few goals. Ultimately, people will look at the result, but look at the balance of the game. It is a hugely disappointing result, and with the balance of the team I left some young players exposed.

"It's obviously not a great result but there were positive reasons why it was a negative result.

"That's football, the nature of the coach I am. I made positive substitutions, it backfired and you have to take it on the chin when it does."

He fudged the question of whether he worried about losing the supporters and whether they would question his progress.

"Do I worry about it (losing the supporters]? I think supporters will be disappointed when they see the scoreline," he said.

"The reason will be the scoreline, but there were positive reasons for that, and hopefully the supporters will understand the reasons. I left some young players exposed by trying to get six strikers on the park. Hopefully supporters will understand the reasons for that and not see it as a game where we were playing on an even field with a balanced team. I understand that they will look at the result, though.

"This club's got millions of fans all over the world. Some will look at the scenario and see what we are trying to do, and some won't. They will react off the result.

"I understand that; it's the nature of supporters. I can't speak for them, don't think you can speak for them." No followers will be able to reason over his crackers 3-1-6 formation for the last 15 minutes. Mowbray said he retained the appetite for getting it right, somewhat unconvincingly. "For me, you can look as deep into the result as you want, and it's obviously not a great result. I understand the positive reasons why and yet the ultimate negative is the result. That's football, you're either a brave coach or a negative coach. If you make them substitutions and you win 3-2 it's the right thing to do, you make those substitutions you lose to more goals it's the wrong thing to do and people ask questions. I understand that."

But St Mirren manager Gus MacPherson tried to play down the remarkable result which took his side five points clear of bottom side Falkirk.

He said: "We played extremely well and don't think we got the credit we deserved at Hampden. There were some ridiculous headlines and we had the opportunity to do our talking on the park again. But it's just one game, that's really all it is – three points. The frustration has been that we have drawn far too many games at home, but tonight we took our chances and the goalkeeper makes crucial saves at crucial times and we get the three points. It's just three points, that's all it is."