Rodgers paid tribute to the supporters, acknowledging their support. Patience was the watchword, given it took a fair while for the goals to start flowing.
Significantly, with the half-time scoreline goalless at Celtic Park for the third time this season, there was no audible dissent.
Just mild applause, perhaps because Jerome Prior had just pulled off an incredible save to keep out Hyun-jun Yang’s flying, point-blank header.
The applause and encouragement was amplified after the interval, no doubt inspired by Nygren’s contribution.
By mid-way through the second period, with Celtic three up and coasting, the supporters were loving life. Game done, oppostion despatched, box ticked.
Not that everything was a complete bed of roses for the directors sitting in the main stand. Hand-written banners were held up in the standing section of Celtic Park, reading ‘zero ambition’, ‘neglect team’, ‘rinse fans’ and ‘basic board’.
There were also some first-half chants of ‘sack the board’, leaving the hierarchy perfectly clear about the strength of feeling among some of their own.
The extent to which that all either dissipates, or increases exponentially, will all come down to the outcome in Kazakhstan on Tuesday.
