Christie proving he’s class act: Forrest
JAMES Forrest believes hard work is paying off for Celtic team-mate Ryan Christie after the midfielder netted the Betfred Cup final winner on Sunday.
Christie added to a pivotal six weeks in his career with the only goal against Aberdeen at Hampden Park.
The 23-year-old had to be patient for the first three years of his Celtic career — spending most of the time on loan at Inverness and then with Aberdeen.
But he has kick-started his Parkhead career in style with five goals in eight matches, earning himself a starting place for Scotland in the process.
Forrest said: “He’s been unbelievable. I have always said right from the start that he’s been working hard in training behind the scenes. Nobody has really seen that but it is paying off and I’m delighted for him. I just hope he keeps going for club and country.”
Christie’s form helped keep Scott Brown and Olivier Ntcham out of the starting line-up at Hampden.
Forrest said: “It’s a real strong position, we have a lot of players there at international level.
“It’s great for Ryan that he has come in and done really well. His game keeps improving and he’ll just want to keep playing every game to keep going.”
The triumph ensured a seventh consecutive domestic trophy for Celtic and kept alive the prospect of a triple treble.
“The last two years it’s given us a boost to get this trophy in the bag early doors, so now we can focus on the league until Christmas,” Forrest said.
“The last two years we have won the treble but we never talk about it as a squad. We just go into every game to give our all.”
Meanwhile, Hibs manager Neil Lennon is all for cutting Celtic and Rangers’ ticket allocation if it means getting more of his club’s own fans in to the stadium.
Last week the club encouraged supporters to buy as many tickets as they could for the upcoming games against the Old Firm on 16 and 19 December respectively.
That would potentially allow them to sell half of the South Stand to their own fans, rather than the Glasgow clubs being allocated the entire capacity as is usually the case.