Celtic's Darren O'Dea denied the Hoops blew their title hopes last night after defeat against Hibernian at Parkhead left them 10 points behind Rangers at the top of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.
Marc-Antoine Fortune headed the home side in to a fifth-minute lead but that was cancelled out before the break by Easter Road and Republic of Ireland striker Anthony Stokes.
Celtic controlled the match in the second half, passing up on several opportunities to go back in front, and then suffered a double-whammy when Hibs substitute Danny Galbraith, on for Colin Nish, fired in a dramatic breakaway winner in the dying seconds.
Asked if Celtic had blown their chance of wresting the title back from Ibrox, the Irishman retorted: "No, no.
"We are very disappointed, there's no doubting that.
"It's not over by any means, but it is a big challenge
"We are 10 points behind and it's no secret that we have to win games but it's not over."
O'Dea insists the Hoops' dressing room is still firmly behind manager Tony Mowbray.
"Oh yes, that's not even a question," he insisted. "The manager has got ideas and all the players are completely behind him.
"There is no doubting the effort but effort but isn't enough at a club like Celtic and at the moment we are just lacking a little bit."
The Celtic manager ignored one question about him feeling under pressure before insisting the Parkhead club can still catch their Old Firm rivals.
He said: "We have still to play Rangers twice and on the evidence of the first two games against them, it's games that we should be looking forward to.
"How many games have we got to go? There are enough games and enough points."
To end a tense post-match press conference, the Celtic manager refused to answer queries about Danny Fox's proposed move to Burnley and Stephen McManus' loan deal with Middlesbrough, which reportedly broke down earlier in the day.
Easter Road boss John Hughes hailed 19-year-old Galbraith, who scored his first competitive goal for the club since signing last summer, but believed Ireland midfielder Liam Miller stood out.
He said: "He's a kid who came from Manchester United, so he is well-groomed.
"He's just a baby but a lovely kid to work with and he's been out for a year with injury, so he did well.
"He needs to believe in himself and it's my job to get the best out of him.
"I was screaming at him to believe in himself and be the match winner so I'm delighted that he took it on board.
"But I felt Liam Miller was possibly the man-of-the-match."
A delighted Galbraith said: "I'm over the moon.
"I don't think it could have went much better for me, to score the winner at Parkhead.
"Dreams are made of that sort of thing, I'm just delighted that it happened.
"I was blowing towards the end of the game but I chased Stokesy up the pitch and it's a good job the ball went to John Rankin because I knew he would pass it to me.
"I didn't think I was offside, as soon as I got the ball I concentrated on trying to get a good first touch and just tried to hit the target."