HAVING made an art form out of slipping under the radar in his Celtic career, James Forrest found himself with a starring aside on Monday evening.

The winger’s attempts at explaining to Reo Hatate that he had marked his Celtic debut by claiming the man of the match performance as they sat side-by-side on the bench was captured by the TV cameras and quickly did the rounds on social media.

If the message was lost in translation, there were no such barriers on the pitch given the immediate impression made by Hatate and his compatriot, Daizen Maeda.  

“I could hear it [the tannoy] alright but he didn’t have a clue what I was saying,” laughed Forrest. “It was funny, though. I think somebody else had to tell him. I was speaking too Scottish for him. 

“They have always settled in well, they seem really good within the group, and they seem to really fit with the way we play because they all work really hard, which is what you need in the Scottish game. 

“All the boys that have been here for a wee while were talking about it the other day. Obviously we didn’t win anything last season but it is kind of exciting again and I think there is a freshness that comes with Ange [Postecoglou] and playing with new players from different countries. “You can learn something new from having that, it doesn’t matter what age you are. I think that’s the case now with the Japanese boys coming in and someone like Jota coming in. It is good to be involved in and the squad is exciting just now. We have won one cup now and just looking forward to rest of season.” 

Forrest himself can still add another notable chapters to his Celtic career. Just five goals shy of becoming only the 30th Celtic player to score 100 goals, the Scotland internationalist is keen to make up for lost time after a disrupted year through injury.
“I have a couple of goals in Europe this season but I’ve had a lot of chances in games in the league but just not a goal yet,” he said. “These wee stats are good, good to get goals and assists and if I keep playing the games I’d like to think I can add goals. 

“Right at the start of the season I felt really good, but then these things can just happen. You have seen it with different players in the squad and it happened with me as well, picking up injuries, it’s just part of the game. I’ve come back a couple of times and I’m feeling really good just now and I just want to go on a wee run by focussing on a game at a time. 

“The winter break really helped me as I think I missed only three games after that. The two games that got postponed meant I didn’t miss out too much. So the winter break came at a good time for me. It meant I could get back in training for a couple of weeks before playing the other night.”