Only a win can put stumbles behind us: Forrest
JAMES Forrest wants Celtic to get back to winning ways in the Ladbrokes Premiership following their dramatic last-gasp Europa League victory over Rosenborg.
The Hoops drew a blank at St Mirren last week, a result which ultimately left them five points behind leaders Hearts after five games of the season.
The Group B opener against Norwegian outfit Rosenborg on Thursday was a struggle for the Scottish champions, but an 87th-minute winner from substitute Leigh Griffiths gave Celtic three crucial points.
Now 27-year-old Scotland winger Forrest, who said talks about a new contract at Parkhead were “ongoing”, is looking for another win at Kilmarnock on Sunday.
He told a number of broad- casters: “Obviously it was disappointing last week but we have had disappointing results before and always come back. We have a real good squad and that is what we are looking to do.
“We know we have a lot of different competitions coming up and we are going to use our squad. We want to keep ourselves in all competitions and we need to start again on Sunday.”
Notably, it was Celtic’s first ever win in an opening groupstage match.
Forrest hopes to use the morale boost as a springboard for the rest of the fixtures, which include a trip to Norway and home and away games against Red Bull Salzburg and RB Leipzig, and indeed for the rest of the domestic campaign.
The former Celtic youth player said: “The way it has happened, scoring a late goal is great and obviously getting that three points to start us off is a real bonus and we can look forward to the next game now. We can take a lot of confidence from getting three points in the first group game.
“It will be a real boost for everyone and hopefully we can just kick on and start scoring more goals and winning more games.”
Meanwhile, boss Brendan Rodgers praised his Celtic side for battling their way to a 1-0 Europa League Group B win over Rosenborg without being at their best.
The Scottish champions struggled in their section opener against a stuffy Norwegian side they had already knocked out of the Champions League qualifiers early in the season and indeed last season.
It looked like the visitors would leave with a hard-fought points but with three minutes remaining substitute Leigh Griffiths, on for Odsonne Edouard, headed in a Dedryck Boyata knock down for a victory that had looked like escaping them.
Celtic travel to Salzburg next month — the Austrian side won 3-2 against RB Leipzig in Germany in their first Group B match — and Rodgers is glad to be taking three points with them.
The Northern Irishman said: “I am very happy, it was a great win in relation to spirit and persistence to go to the very end.
“They surprised us a little bit for first 20 minutes, they played a diamond and they had never played that when we had analysed them but once we found the balance to play against that we started to come into the game.
“I said to the players last week that we had to find a way to win, that’s why we are here and the players did that.” Fully focused: James Forrest wants victory at Kilmarnock