NO Imps, no Buckfast bottle thrown, no drama, no real problem.

FC Alashkert of Armenia were not to be the cause of a hairy moment for Celtic, which Brendan Rodgers previously had spoken about. The Scottish champions were professional without being perfect and won. What more could the manager have asked for?

Read more: Alashkert 0 Celtic 3: Player ratings

The second leg next Wednesday in Glasgow will be a much-needed extra training exercise. Alashkert are willing but limited. If they were to pull off a shock then they would have needed to win in Yerevan’s Republican Stadium. This tie will not go down as a classic, but all this uncooked Celtic side could do was get out of town without anything silly to have happened.

They did that and a lot more.

Odsonne Edouard, Celtic’s record buy, scored the crucial first, the impressive James Forrest was also on target along with Callum McGregor, and the 20-year-old Frenchman and Moussa Dembele hinted they could be a strong partnership. It remains a work in progress but this first impression was a good one.

However, the best player on show was Scott Brown. The captain’s reading of the game was tremendous, his distribution superb and energy levels that of a player 10 years younger than his 33.

It wasn’t a stroll. At least until it went to 2-0. The Armenians created chances, with the help of Celtic errors, and had they scored it would not have been outrageous. They were a far better side, at least on this evidence, than many teams Celtic have faced further down the route to qualification.

What Rodgers will be concerned about is his back line of Jack Hendry, Kristoffer Ajer and Jozo Simunovic. These three knew some time ago that they would be starting this match and yet their communication was poor at times and once or twice, which is too many, silly mistakes gave an Alashkert player a sniff of goal.

Most of their efforts were either well wide or high and a better team – Rosenborg for example – are capable of making more of such opportunities. However, Celtic will be better for this experience.

The temperature wasn’t a high as predicted and the half-filled stadium was not so much a cauldron as a creche. A few thousand schoolchildren were allowed in for free. They were ultra-excited rather than ultras.

Read more: Alashkert 0 Celtic 3: Player ratings

The first-half was pretty even and a fairly bruising affair for Celtic. Brown, McGregor and Kieran Tierney were all dumped on the pitch by robust challenges by Alashkert, intent from the start of not allowing their visitors to settle.

The worst of the challenges came from Brazilian Jefferson who was high and late when he caught Hendry on the face with his boot. He was booked but a red card would not have been harsh.

Tierney gave Alashkert right-back Artak Yedigaryan a night he won’t forget and on 13 minutes his pace and cross into the area was an inch, no more, too far for Dembele’s outstretched leg.

Alashkert’s big chance of the half came on 19 minutes when Artak Dashyan made the most of Simunovic slipping. He took the ball close to the line and from a tight angle forced Craig Gordon into a save. A minute later, Celtic’s goalkeeper could only watch as the ball sailed closer than he would have liked over his goal from the left foot of Danilo Sekulic.

Dembele was denied a goal on 26 minutes after Olivier Ntcham found him with a neat reverse pass. The striker put a lot of curl on his shot but goalkeeper Ognjen Cancarevic got his hand to the ball.

The tie was more or less decided in first-half injury time. With the referee looking at his watch, Celtic piled bodies forward, led by Simunovic who tried a shot of his own. The ball bobbled about the box before it lopped in the direction of Forrest, his attempted volley accidentally went straight to Edouard who calmly took on his effort first time and found the net.

Read more: Alashkert 0 Celtic 3: Player ratings

The second-half started badly for Celtic and Hendry. A ball through the middle for Jefferson should have been cleared or knocked back to Gordon by the defender, he dallied, the Alashkert man got on the ball but then scuffed his shot.

The alert Gordon made a good stop on 66 minutes when Artak Yedigaryan tried his luck from 25 yards with a fierce shoot which Celtic’s No.1 got both hands to.

Jefferson was the Armenians’ best player and if anyone deserve a goal it was him. That almost came on 74 minutes with a snapshot at the near post, Ajer made a fine block, the ball could have gone anywhere but landed behind the touchline.

Lewis Morgan made his Celtic debut as a substitute with 14 minutes remaining and his corner led to the second goal.

Hendry won the ball at the back post and almost scored then Scott Sinclair kept it alive and passed back to the Norwegian whose shot fell into the path of Forrest and with calmness he made Celtic’s win certain.

And to round it all off, McGregor nutmegged a defender and scored a third at the same time on 90 minutes. For once, it was all so very straightforward.