The pulse returned to Celtic Park today with the Green Brigade back in place for the match against Livingston, ending a 13 match suspension.
There was passion and commitment coming from the North Curve for 90 plus minutes with the atmosphere in stark contrast to the ghostly experience of last week’s 2-0 defeat at home to Hearts.
Ironically the two goals scored today were at the ‘wrong’ end with Kyogo Furuhashi and Liam Scales on the scoresheet at the start of the second half.
While there were large swatches of empty seats before the final whistle it seemed that everyone in the Standing Section remained in place to savour their first action in almost two months.
There was an expectation following the Hearts defeat that the Green Brigade would be back inside Celtic Park but it wasn’t until late on Thursday that the Celtic North Curve Twitter account announced a pre-match Corteo from the Social Club on London Road.
A new set of stadium regulations are in place but there was nothing muted about the backing by the Green Brigade from the pre-match You’ll Never Walk Alone till the final blow of the whistle.
Unlike recent matches the first 15 minutes saw Celtic play with pace and purpose but they were unable to make the breakthrough against opponents with virtually no attacking intentions.
A goal in front of the Lisbon Lions Stand would have been ideal but with the first half ending goal-less there was some booing as the players went off at half-time.
It took less than a minute for Kyogo to make the breakthrough in the second half as Celtic took tentative steps forward after the shock of back-to-back defeats in the SPFL.
Three more tests remain before the winter break, with a Glasgow Derby sandwiched in the middle of that run the extra backing from the Green Brigade is a timely boost.
