BRENDAN RODGERS tried to claim Celtic's defeat to Lincoln Red Imps wasn't an embarrassment despite many supporters taking the view it was the club's worst ever result.

Never before have Celtic lost to such lowly opposition, the semi-professional champions of Gibraltar were amateur only three years ago, and while they should still make up for what was a woeful night at next week's return leg in Glasgow, this was a truly dreadful performance.

Rodgers can take some comfort from this being his first game and that Gordon Strachan began his Celtic managerial career with a bad European defeat. He will also sign players but this was a wretched night and the supporters inside the Victoria Stadium vented their anger at the players after the final whistle.

When asked whether there were red faces in the dressing room, the Celtic manager said: "No. There is obviously disappointment. We understand where we want to get to and what we want to achieve.

‘But there is no embarrassment. It was a tough game in tough conditions. We didn’t take our chances, they took their chance. The second leg will be different.

"Why not embarrassed? Because it’s over two legs. It’s a two-legged affair. Our objective is to get through. And I’ve seen enough to suggest we’ll get through in the second leg.

"It’s a disappointing result, of course. But the important thing is to get through in the next round. And we’ve got two games to do that, not just one.

"It was a game we dominated and we created enough chances to score. But sometimes in games it just happens like that.

"Obviously with the pitch, one ball up the park and an awkward bounce, the player has taken his chance.

‘We’ve obviously given ourselves a wee bit of work to do in the second leg. But we’ve obviously seen enough, I’ve certainly enough of the players tonight, to know that we’ll get through in the second leg, which ultimately is the aim."

The night belonged to Red Imps who created more than the once chance they took, through Lee Casciaro who was the Gibraltar players who scored against Scotland at Hampden Park.

Rodgers, however, refused to go in too heavy on the players, some of whom looked like they wanted to be anywhere else but on that pitch.

He said: "It was difficult, of course. They set up 5-4-1. And it doesn’t matter the team, the level. Teams now have good organisation and, when you have 11 players behind the ball, it’s very difficult to break it down.

"Throw the pitch into that, as well, and it’s very, very tough for the players.

"But we created enough chances, their keeper made fantastic saves. It gives us a bit of work to do in the second leg.

"I still expect to go through, absolutely. Obviously you are disappointed to lose. You never want to lose the game.

‘But it’s a long ball up the pitch, we didn’t deal with it, an awkward bounce, and the guy hits it into the floor and it goes in.

"We let the local team enjoy their night and, for us, we expect to be better next week.

Celtic fans obviously expect us to get through into the group stages. Our players gave everything they had. The only thing we lacked was that final ball in and around the box. So the message to them is to stay calm. This is a good group of players, good guys, working hard. In a week’s time, we’ll need the fans.

"I always thought this qualification phase would be based on the second leg at home, so we will need their support to get the job done."

Rodgers was always going to spent money on players but what he needs to do is instil a stronger mentality into a squad who lacked that over the previous two seasons.

Although he said: "I don’t think it was mental strength. We arrived just over 20 days into pre-season. We are very much unified as a group.

‘We understand a result like this will always provoke a reaction. But for us, we get back into work again, we have a friendly at the weekend, then we’ll be seven days further into it by next week."

This could be seen as Celtic's worst result, although what might save Rodgers from that unwanted claim is that his team will still most likely go through to the next Champions League qualifying round.

He said: "I'm not really shocked. I’ve been around the game long enough, I know these results can happen. We stay calm. We know what our objective is over the course of the round. We need to put in a performance and get a result next week.

"Even if we had won here, the job wouldn’t be done. The result here complicates it a bit for us. It’s a competitive game and we want to win every game. But we move on to next week, when we’ll be a week further into our preparations.

"Over the course of the two games, if we didn’t get through, then I would have a big concern, of course.

"It’s a disappointing result but there were many factors behind it. We accept it as a group, look to put it right in the next game."