Maik Nawrocki didn’t get a victory to savour on his shock Celtic return.
But the Polish defender may have given himself a chance to win a long-term reprieve.
Or, at the very least, ensured his club are going to get their £4million outlay back if he heads out of the door in the summer.
Celtic positives from their loss to Rangers last weekend were hard to find.
And, while it’s difficult to commend defenders who are part of a backline which shipped another three goals in a disjointed display full of mishaps and mistakes, the Polish defender was the one who emerged from the wreckage with some pride intact.
Nawrocki was so far out of the picture that many supporters had forgotten he was still around until Sunday’s teamsheet dropped.
Five minutes against Falkirk in a Premier Sports Cup tie. Just 18 minutes against Raith Rovers in a Scottish Cup tie. Hardly the ideal preparation for an Old Firm game.
Yet he delivered strongly enough for Record Sport’sChris Sutton to say: “Nawrocki, for coming in, 23 minutes all season, I thought he had an outstanding game.”
Nawrocki had been there before. Thrust straight from a four-month injury absence into the side from the bench after Stephen Welsh sustained an injury against Rangers in the New Year game of last season with Cameron Carter-Vickers also injured and absent, he proved he could cope with the situation when holding the fort alongside Liam Scales as his team grabbed a pivotal 2-1 win the title race.
It was a similar scenario at the weekend. He hadn’t started a game since the final Premiership day of last term’s dead-rubber against St Mirren. Too much time on the injured list made him unreliable for the manager in the first season and called for the signing of Auston Trusty.
Nawrocki kept it simple and he was alert. He was the one who bailed Kasper Schmeichel out after the keeper’s abysmal pass out of defence presented Rangers star Vaclav Cerny with a glaring opportunity. He cut out a pullback from the Czech set to find Cyriel Dessers bang in front of the sticks after another more errors by colleagues.
It was Jeffrey Schlupp who lost the run of Nicoals Raskin for the Rangers opener. Nawrocki was dragged out of the central area by Dessers for Mohamed Diomande’s goal, but no-one covered in behind.
For the Hamza Igamane winner, the responsibility sat squarely onto the shoulders of Carter-Vickers for missing the original long Jack Butland clearance and Alistair Johnson for slipping over.
Nawrocki, if being critical, could have been covering straight in behind as Carter-Vickers missed the first ball, but, at that stage, he was entitled to be leggy. A fact not lost on Rodgers after the game when he said: “I thought he’d done really, really well to last the game.”
Rodgers also commended the defender for his work prior to that as he stated: “I thought he’d done really well. I said that to him afterwards in the changing room.
“There weren’t too many highlights for us. But certainly for him, for a guy that’s not played virtually for a year, it shows you how well he’s trained and how professional he’s been.”
It was in those praiseworthy statements where, perhaps, the key issues going forward are going to lie.
Nawrocki has clearly been professional in his work and has been the type to stick his head down and work when out of the picture.
But the fact that those solid efforts behind the scenes have still not been enough to earn him any chances ahead of Carter-Vickers, Trusty and Scales suggests he’s, at the very best, fourth pick.
Even then, youngster Dane Murray got on ahead of him against Aston Villa in the Champions League having been recalled from Queen’s Park in January to facilitate a temporary switch to Mechelen for Welsh.
Whether the Scottish star returns to the scene with a stronger opportunity to boost his chances of game-time remains to be seen and will directly impact Nawrocki.
At the stage of Welsh’s departure, the Pole was kept in Glasgow despite interest from clubs such as Oxford United.
The reason for that decision was made abundantly clear at the weekend when Rodgers needed to call for the ex-Legia Warsaw man.
But the harsh realities of the situation appear that Nawrocki, despite doing his bit for the team against Rangers in an SOS, has merely kept value in a transfer fee with his performance.
With Scales and Trusty obviously ahead of him in the pecking order along with Carter-Vickers, the arrival of Kieran Tierney will push him further down the list.
The Arsenal defender is seen as a left-back and made his name in the position, but he has shown on international duty that he is capable of stepping inside to play as a left-sided central defender.
Tierney would surely get any future nod ahead of Nawrocki which puts him fifth in line even before Welsh’s future is decided.
Nawrocki did well against Rangers considering the circumstances, but, given his lack of action beforehand, it would suggest the outing was more one-off than long-term game-changer.
Rodgers will be the one who decides. But the Pole has at least shown fans and prospective buyers that there remains a talent there at the age of just 24 which could be utlised either in Glasgow or in pastures new come next season.