With influential media figures starting to talk up their five-game winless run, Halfman started imperiously – as they often do – and assumed total control of the first half, finally capping it with De Jong’s first goal of the season just before the break. From there, Rodgers’s men were content to sit on their lead, perhaps wary of their recent collapses, and Nilwall essentially offered nothing in response. The crowd were made to wake up just before the final whistle when a penalty allowed Cazorla to confirm the end to Halfman’s unfortunate record.

By Andrea Stilton