THERE were mixed emotions for former Celtic players as Hull City beat Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 in the Premier League play-off confrontation at Wembley.
Left-back Andrew Robertson and midfielder Shaun Maloney will now perform in the top flight in the new season while Gary Hooper, Glenn Loovens and Ross Wallace face the challenges of the Championship again.
The ex-Hoops trio were condemned to at least one more campaign in the English second tier when Mo Diame fired in a stunning second-half strike.
The Hillsborough side’s Portuguese manager Carlos Carvalhal admitted he was delighted with how his side have performed throughout the season, but conceded Hull were the better side on the day.
He said: “I’m proud of the players, the club and the fans, but, at the same time, we are unhappy because we’ve lost the final, but football is good when we dream.
“I must talk in two different ways. One, I think we had a really fantastic season and nobody expected us to finish in this position. Another thing is the final and we played against a strong team. We fight, we ran, we tried to organise, but Hull were better than us and they deserved to win.
“Even in the second-half, we started to play a little bit better, to press higher up like we usually do, but, in this game, the details make the difference and it was a fantastic goal that did it.
“But you have to be very good to be at Wembley and although we lose one game in the final, in my opinion, it was with very good quality and we deserve everything we have lived so far, so I am proud.”
