Distraught Kingsley cut an emotional figure after the game as he tried to put into words what had unfolded at Parkhead

Shellshocked Stephen Kingsley admits he is embarrassed to be part of a Hearts team that imploded to their heaviest-ever defeat at Celtic Park.

But the Jambos vice-captain insists nothing will ever hurt as much as last season’s gut-wrenching title heartbreak at Parkhead. Kingsley struggled to hide his emotions after Hearts were humiliated 7-1 at the home of the champions.

And while the defender was sickened by his side’s calamitous display, he insists the damage pales in comparison to the agony of seeing their title dream go up in smoke on the final day last term.

Dejected Kingsley said: "No, nothing will ever be worse than that. I think it's very difficult to sum everything up. I think it's just very raw. Embarrassment, I think, with the first half in terms of the way we lost the goals. I think we shot ourselves in the foot countless times.

"Celtic were clinical, fair to them, fair play to them, but I just felt like we played right into their hands. We gave them exactly what they wanted. We made too many mistakes, two set pieces to start it off. It kills you straight away. You can't do that when you come to places like this.

"I think it was just a calamity of errors. I think after that, every error we made seemed to be exposed. They were good at it. Obviously, they're a great counter-attacking team. They've got pace, they've got quality. So it's very disappointing that we knew that going into the game and played right into their hands. You can't do that when you come to places like this."

Wouter Vrancken’s men arrived in Glasgow’s east end as the Premiership’s top scorers, sitting just five points behind the table-toppers. But the Tynecastle side were torn apart as their goal difference advantage was obliterated in a humiliating 90 minutes.

The result is a huge setback for Hearts as they look to mount another challenge for the title, with Kingsley admitting his side must now pick themselves up quickly.

He said: "We need to rally around each other and make sure that when we come into training that we're ready to go and we're ready to refocus on the next challenge. There's horrible situations that you can find yourself in and games that it doesn't work out for you.

"Myself and I'm sure the other boys as well will be in and around the group and make sure that we're picking everyone up where they will. Because we believe in what we've got. That's the main thing as well.

“We didn't show it today, quite obviously. But we believe that we've got something special in our changing room. I feel like we've shown that in large spells of the opening part of our season. We've had a few defensive areas that we know we need to improve on.

"But we need to get back to being that team that we know we can be. And we have shown in periods up until now as well. We've got major plaudits from a lot of people from how we've played. But when you take those plaudits, you need to take the criticism when it comes your way as well.

"It's a rollercoaster of a season. It's always the same. You're going to have your ups and downs. This is hopefully a blip on an otherwise successful season.”

With a Euro trip to Mo Salah’s Trabzonspor looming on Thursday, Kingsley knows Hearts can’t afford to feel sorry for themselves.

He said: "It's one of those results that, if you linger on it, then you can let it fester and seep into future performances. But we can't have that. We look at it, obviously, and we look at things that we've done wrong. To be honest, we probably know that ourselves after this game.

"Then we put it to bed and move on to the next game because the next one's not going to get any easier. We've obviously got European competition again on Thursday, another hard game away. So we need to bounce back quick and really try and put on a performance that we can be proud of because it's far from that, isn’t it?"