THE road to Hampden was a long and winding one for Motherwell this season. In the end, the final steps were just too far to travel.

Having made the journey to the National Stadium full of hope and expectation, Stephen Robinson's side returned home on Saturday night with feelings of regret and disappointment.

There was no silverware at the front of the bus, no parade through the streets of the town as Scottish Cup glory evaded the Steelmen once again.

Instead, it was Celtic who were celebrating and toasting cup success as a second consecutive Treble was secured with relative ease.

Callum McGregor's early strike took the wind out of the Well sails, while Olivier Ntcham's effort that doubled Celtic's lead was a blow from which Robinson's side never looked like recovering.

It wasn't exactly the end to the campaign that Motherwell, and their supporters, had hoped for at Hampden. It was a case of so near, yet so far.

“I’m absolutely gutted, but it was maybe one step too far for us," Richard Tait, the Motherwell defender, said.

“Ultimately we lost the game in the first 20 minutes.

“We started slowly and they scored two great goals from outside the box.

“They never really cut us open and that is the most disappointing thing.

“It is hard to take and will take a few weeks to get over it.

“Even when we went down to 2-0 we felt we could get back in the game, but ultimately it was too much.

“If Curtis’s effort in the second half goes in we still have 25 minutes left.

“We could have been back in the game but it wasn’t our day.

“They are a really good side and are double Treble winners for a reason."

Defeat on Saturday was the second time that Motherwell have lost to Celtic on final duty this season.

But the familiarity of the emotions didn't lessen their impact as Brendan Rodgers' side clinched another 2-0 win.

In the end, a Gael Bigirimana free-kick, after Chris Cadden was hauled down on the edge of the box, was as close as Motherwell would come.

Tait said: “I was shouting for a red card. Who actually knows the rules?

“If I’m honest the referee was pretty soft all day.

“We are a physical team and they were falling to the ground and getting fouls for the least little bump.

“It was difficult to implement our game on them, but that wasn’t the reason we lost.

“We lost because we gave two goals away in the first half.

“It is a bit of an anti-climax. All the build up was geared around winning the cup.

“What is the point in reaching cup finals if you are not going to win them?

“It sucks pretty bad if you lose. But, you have to shake it off. You can’t keep dwelling on it.

"We need to be ready to go again next season and try to get back to Hampden.”