JAMES FORREST helped put the Rangers back in their box at Celtic Park yesterday. He scored his first goal against either of the Ibrox clubs in the 5-0 victory over them in April and played his part yesterday in securing a win that was infinitely more comfortable than the 1-0 scoreline suggests.
The woodwork saved the visitors on a handful of occasions – one shot from Forrest in the first half thundered off Allan MacGregor’s crossbar with the hooligan/keeper left stranded.
Jamesy was clearly rather pleased afterwards with both the result and the performance.
“I think we showed what we are – a big team with big characters. We knew what we needed to do and that was go out and put in a good performance and win the game. That’s what we did,” Forrest said.
“We have so many matchwinners here. We have players who know what it means to go out and play in the fixture and know what is required to get the result.
“I believe we showed our character and our togetherness out there.”
And the Celtic winger reckoned that Steve Gerrard, the petulant Rangers rookie manager, was wrong in his claim that Tom Rogic had fouled Ryan Jack just outside the Celtic box. That of course led to a devastatingly effective counter attack from Celtic and Forrest unselfishly laid the goal on a plate for Olivier Ntcham.
“Tom was just outside out box when it happened,” Forrest noted. “I don’t think it was a foul. It would have been a soft one. But, in any case, we still had a load of work to do before scoring. We had the entire length of the park to get up.
“I also reckon we should have scored a lot more than just one. We hit the post and the crossbar and on another day they would have gone in. I don’t think we won the game just because of one decision.”
Forrest spoke about his decision to pass to Ntcham rather than do the greedy thing and try to grab the glory for himself.
“I thought about taking the shot, but when I looked up I could see Ollie coming in and I just thought he would definitely score if the pass was right. Naturally, I was delighted to see it going in.
“The first-half, I just tried an effort from the edge of the box when the ball came out to me. I actually thought at the last minute it might dip and go in – on another day it might have.”
Forrest was asked about the controversy last week surrounding the eventual transfer of Moussa Dembele to Lyon, but he choose not to get too involved with that row. Forrest much prefers to focus on what the Celtic team are doing on the park.
“I am not too sure what was said in the build-up because I don’t take too much notice of that. But I do think it was always going to be important to go out and win the game.
“That isn’t different to what our aim is every week. We have the mentality to win every time we walk onto the park and it doesn’t matter who we are playing. We have players here who are hungry for success and that won’t change.
“It has been a tough month because we didn’t get the Champions League which we wanted.
“However, we have got ourselves back on track and, psychologically, I think it was important that we were able to sign out now for a few weeks on the back of a victory.”
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