Eyebrows were raised when Gers boss Philippe Clement left regular centre-back Connor Goldson on the bench with the 35-year-old Nigeria international Balogun making his first start since a 3-0 win over Livingston at Ibrox on February 3.
After just two wins in eight in all competitions and on the back of a goalless draw against Dundee on Wednesday night, which followed their first ever defeat by Ross County in the cinch Premiership in Dingwall the previous Sunday, the pressure was on the Ibrox side.
However, a Cyriel Dessers double set up an Old Firm final on May 25, the first since 2002.
Balogun, in his second spell at the Ibrox club, said: “I think at this club, it felt like we had a few horrible weeks and it’s been two games only, obviously very important games, but within a week.
“So I think it was very important to bounce back against a team that has put in good performances in every game we have played this season so far.
“They never make it easy for us and certainly didn’t on Sunday.
“But it felt good to be out there and show some resilience and get a good result, 2-0 and a clean sheet. Overall I can be can be happy.
“For me, it was just to make sure to prepare well and to have a good start to the game and do what I’m supposed to do and serve the team.
“I think overall as a team, as a unit, we did really well.”
Balogun revealed Clement has tried to keep the Rangers squad focused on the positives during the recent ropey spell which leaves the Light Blues three points behind cinch Premiership leaders Celtic.
The Light Blues begin their five post-split fixtures next weekend with a trip to St Mirren on Sunday.
He said: “He’s been really good with us because he makes sure that we don’t get too emotional because it’s always very easy to watch those games back and then just feel sorry for yourself, talk yourself down.
“He just reminded us of things that, even though we had bad performances, we still did good.
“He makes sure that he reminds us of what we have to do and repeats that quite heavily as well.
“Then you can see throughout the training sessions how the confidence slowly builds back up.
“I think it’s not a surprise that we had a few difficult spells in the game on Sunday as well.
“But then again, we showed the character that he was able to instil in the team.”
Celtic made a sluggish start to the match and were lucky not to find themselves behind at the break as Blair Spittal and Lawrence Shankland spurned glorious chances for Hearts.
However, they came out revitalised in the second half as Kyogo Furuhashi and Nicolas Kuhn scored twice in five minutes to put them 2-0 up on the hour mark.
Adam Idah scored twice, netting on either side of Musa Drammeh's consolation, with his second coming from the penalty spot in the 94th minute.
Celtic have now won all seven of their away league games this season by an aggregate score of 22-2.
After Aberdeen's first loss of the season earlier on Saturday, Celtic gave themselves some breathing space at the top of the league, while also moving 11 points clear of rivals Rangers, who sit third.
Rodgers was delighted with Celtic's response to the first half, praising the players' adaptation.
"I'm really pleased. Tynecastle is a really tough place so to win 4-1 was really pleasing," Rodgers said.
"Second half, we figured out their press. They have normally been pressing in 4-4-2 but changed it slightly. It just meant we had to drop a man in our build-up play.
"We had some good moments in the first half, but once we were able to play through that pressure, I thought in the second half we were excellent.
"It's a very exciting period for us. All the players know they will play, they just need to be ready."
After dominating the opening exchanges, the hosts were offered the chance to take the lead from 12 yards early in the second half.
Nicolas Kuhn's cross was blocked by the hand of James Penrice, with Engels making no mistake from the spot to net his first Celtic goal since his switch from Augsburg.
Luke McCowan confirmed the triumph in the 89th minute, also scoring his first goal for the club, with Rodgers pleased with the pair, but showering particular praise on Engels.
"He's here playing in the eight position," Rodgers said. "He's here with legs and energy and power, he should be able to score goals for us. A good performance from him."
But the encounter could have taken on a much different complexion after the visitors were awarded a penalty of their own in the first half.
Lawrence Shankland's header came off Liam Scales' arm, only for VAR to overturn the decision, and Rodgers believed the right call was eventually made.
"When the referee gives it, it’s always going to be looked at," Rodgers said.
"The ball hits Liam Scales up towards the shoulder on that sleeve part and that’s not a penalty. By the rule, the officials were correct."
Rodgers' side are top of the table with 15 points, ahead of Aberdeen on goal difference, and return to Champions League action on Wednesday when they welcome Slovan Bratislava to Celtic Park in their opening match of the competition.
Hearts raced into a three-goal lead with just 21 minutes on the clock after goals from Lawrence Shankland, Kenneth Vargas and Calem Nieuwenhof had them on easy street.
Adam Frizzell restored some hope for the hosts, though that would be extinguished when Shankland dinked home his 24th goal of the season with 17 minutes remaining.
“It was a really good performance, we scored early goals, scored four goals and it’s a comfortable night,” Naismith said.
“On top of that, the detail that we’d worked on, nearly all of it was right and the players executed it brilliantly.
“There was loads of positives. I’d say we’re still a good bit away, we could be more clinical and in some moments I think when it went 3-0 we picked the wrong option and were forcing it.”
Hearts will now travel to Morton in the quarter-finals, hoping to reach Hampden for the second time this season having already made the semi-final of the Viaplay Cup.
Dougie Imrie’s cinch Championship side shocked Motherwell to book their place in the next round, and Naismith is anticipating a tough encounter.
“Everybody in the last eight thinks they have a chance,” he added.
“Our tie away to Morton, people will think we are favourites, but think there’s a potential upset there.
“I think if we’re not at it then it’ll be a really difficult game, they’ve shown on Friday that they are a good team and are in form.
“We want to go as far as we can, one of the games this season that is disappointing is the semi-final in the last cup – we want to get to the semi-final and do well this time.”
Despite a night filled with positives for the Tynecastle side, there was one major disappointment as Craig Halkett limped off after 25 minutes.
Halkett had only recently returned from a year long lay-off with a ruptured ACL, though Naismith is hopeful the defender will make a speedy recovery.
“It’s just something with his knee, it doesn’t seem to be major but we don’t know at the moment,” he explained.
“We’ll just have to wait and see, at that moment in the game there wasn’t any major risk to continue on.”
Airdrie boss Rhys McCabe felt his side were competitive against their Premiership opponents, despite coming out on the end of a comprehensive defeat.
“I thought for large parts of the first half we were competitive,” McCabe said.
“We started the game really well with intent and didn’t sit off the game as probably a lot of smaller clubs would do against a big club like Hearts.
“You give a player the quality of Lawrence Shankland three or four opportunities then he’s bound to take one or two.
“There are loads of positives going around this club, yes we lost the game and are disappointed, but we’ve just come up from League One through the play-offs, got into the last 16 of the Scottish Cup and have the final of the Challenge Cup against The New Saints in a couple of weeks’ time.”
