Jim McIntyre said he was proud of his Dunfermline players

Dunfermline manager Jim McIntyre praised his side's display in the 4-2 Scottish Cup defeat by Celtic.

The Pars led 2-1 at one point of a thrilling fifth-round tie at East End Park before losing out.

And McIntyre told BBC Scotland: "I'm proud of the players. I thought they were excellent.

"To react so positively to going a goal behind so quickly and then take the lead was great. It would've been nice to get in at half-time ahead."

The Pars fell behind to a superb strike by Diomansy Kamara but hit back with goals from David Graham and Andy Kirk's penalty.

Celtic equalised just before the break through Morten Rasmussen before a Calum Woods own goal and Robbie Keane penalty sealed Dunfermline's fate.

McIntyre said the Pars should be proud of themselves after a spirited display against their Scottish Premier League opponents.

"I just felt that when we took the lead we sat back too deep and that allowed Celtic to control the game," he said.

"We try to pass it and move it; that's the way I see the game being played.

"At times we played some really nice stuff and had an end product, which was pleasing."

McIntyre said the introduction of substitute Keane gave Celtic a lift at the start of the second half.

"You can see how clever he is: the way he drops off and defenders don't like going into that hole."

McIntyre said the Pars were targeting promotion to the SPL this season but conceded they were "a long way off" leaders Dundee at the moment.

"We've had a poor start to the season but we've got to take the positives from today into our league campaign," he added.

"We've been in decent form in the league of late and it's up to us now to kick on for the rest of the season.

"A couple of the goals we gave away were poor and we'll watch the video to learn from that."

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