BRENDAN Rodgers wasn’t at Hampden a year ago when Celtic were beaten by Rangers but he didn’t have to be anywhere near Mount Florida to know the despair felt by the losers.

That very night Ronnie Deila offered his resignation to a board that already felt his time had come and gone, while the supporters, justifiably worried about where their team stood, were left licking a large wound. As for the players, they looked lost.

To suggest Celtic a year ago were in a mess is a nonsense. They were on their way to five titles in a row and while they were far from convincing champions, Deila’s team were miles ahead of the rest.

But none of that mattered when Tom Rogic sent his penalty over the bar giving Rangers their best day in years, and it doesn’t matter now, not after four derby wins in a season, two of them semi-finals, and the Celtic manager was happy to make Hampden a place of joy again for the punters who had started to wonder whether their trips to the national stadium, were worth the bother.

“It (Sunday) was a brilliant team performance and I was delighted for the supporters as I know that 12 months ago it was a difficult day for them and the players as they walked out of Hampden,” said Rodgers.

“It was a hard one to take but 12 months on, you see the level the team are playing at and their confidence. Everything they did in the game was absolutely incredible. It was fully deserved and I’m delighted.

“For us, we have to perform to play. The performance levels are so important and it’s how we work and what’s always been good is the relationship between training and the game. I was really impressed by the composure of the players as that’s something we work on.”

Under Deila, Celtic lost three semi-finals, while Neil Lennon lost two cup finals and had plenty of bad days at Hampden, for so long a home from home for Celtic. Was the problem the stadium, or the big occasion?

Whatever the reason for what was a strange run of results at the old ground, three big wins and one trophy so far under Rodgers has dismissed chat of any sort of a jinx; not that such things exist.

“Everyone talked about Hampden not being a very good place when I came there but we’ve been there three times and performed at a really top level and won all the games,” said Rodgers. “We can see that we enjoy playing there, we have to keep enjoying it and that comes through playing well, performing and winning.”

Patrick Roberts was one of those who lost as Hampden a year ago, his day summed up by managing to miss the target from three yards out and Rangers goalkeeper Wes Foderingham elsewhere. Sunday was a far more pleasant affair.

The winger was sensational in the 2-0 win and should be a cert to start at Ibrox this Saturday.

Roberts is a tricky customer. Back on Hogmanay, he came off the bench at Ibrox and his slide-rule pass sent Stuart Armstrong into the box and his cross picked out Scott Sinclair who scored the winner.

The Old Firm game remains a fascination for so many even if they don’t describe the match as that any more and the fact one of the teams is so far ahead of the other. No matter what else is happening, the games themselves are always intriguing.

“We’ve played two at Hampden, two at Celtic Park and one at Ibrox and I’d say every occasion has been a testing one,” said Roberts when speaking to the Celtic View. “They’re tough and you don’t know what is going to happen on the day because form goes out of the window and it comes down to whoever is best for that 90 minutes.”