BACK TO THE GRIND
Forrest puts his Scotland woes behind him to continue Celtic’s impeccable start
TAKING note of the drubbings doled out to St Johnstone and Motherwell by rampant Celtic, Hamilton had no wish to meet similar suffering.
Certainly, the exercise in keeping the score down was a success.
However, it was a satisfied Neil Lennon who was able to scrawl ‘job done’ next to the scoreline.
The trouble for Hamilton was that James Forrest caught them cold before the closing of ranks could inflict the intended frustrations on Celtic.
The champions left Lanarkshire with all three points thanks to the Scotland international’s fourthminute goal — not to mention the experienced survival instincts which kicked in to thwart a late rally from Accies as the home team finished in the ascendancy.
Brian Rice had gradually allowed his players to open up as the game wore on, led by teenager Lewis Smith’s startlingly mature display.
But first it was all about giving Celtic — and some of their new boys unaccustomed to slow, sticky surfaces like the Fountain Of Youth pitch — an uncomfortable afternoon.
Rice fielded five at the back. To counter that, Celtic’s passing was rapid and what Accies certainly couldn’t account for was the unknown quantity, a £16million winger unleashed for his debut in the Scottish top flight.
Mohamed Elyounoussi was quick to impress, providing the assist for the early winner and giving enough hint of his menace in an hour’s outing.
Showing all the supreme confidence of a man who scored four times for France Under-21s during the international break, Odsonne Edouard’s take and touch round the corner for the winger was sublime.
The delivery from Elyounoussi on the left made it look an easy plant for Forrest, after his dart to the near post left Scott McMann trailing.
However, with his seventh goal in his last nine appearances, Celtic’s best player on the day is probably just making things appear so straightforward.
Only due to the brush of an Owain Fon Williams fingertip did Forrest fail to record a double on the day.
‘Brilliant player, absolutely brilliant,’ enthused his manager Lennon. ‘I thought he was our biggest threat all day.
‘His pace, the effort that hit the bar, his running power where he pulls one back for Odsonne and he was unlucky miscontrolling it. ‘Jamesy was creating chances, scored another brilliant goal — and his run for it was great. ‘That’s him on seven already and we’re only in mid-September. It’s a great return already.’ Thankfully for Fon Williams, Accies stuck to the task of choking the potential passages for Celtic. Sam Stubbs, son of former Celtic defender Alan, was a key part of that effort. According to Stubbs jnr, dad was supporting Hamilton yesterday. That extra incentive for staying tuned might have been required as the entertainment value was low. The only way for Accies to drag themselves up the pitch in the first half was for George Oakley to tease free kicks out of his tussles with Christopher Jullien. Even then this was shaping just like one of his Southampton Saturday afternoons for Fraser Forster, the only difference being his spectator view was from the opposite end of the pitch rather than the stand. A shadow of his early-season form when turning out for Scotland, Forrest was firing again back with his club.
As the opening exchanges of the second half reverted to type, he found an inch or two and an angle in a packed penalty box to strike, smashing the underside of the crossbar.
Forrest reported afterwards that the goalkeeper had denied him and Accies were inspired by that escape.
They crept into the contest, upfield and, eventually, into Celtic’s penalty box.
A free header for Alex Gogic was wasted after he drifted into a good position to meet Blair Alston’s free-kick.
Celtic were desperate to put the game to bed and allow thoughts drift to France and their Europa League midweek.
So on came a comeback man in Tom Rogic as Lennon mixed it up with Ryan Christie right and Forrest left.
Vakoun Bayo, preferred to Leigh Griffiths to come off the bench, cursed the lack of power behind his header from a corner as Fon Williams collected with ease.
With 20 minutes to go, it was time for Accies to roll the dice.
Adrian Beck for Markus Fjortoft was the attacking switch to see if Oakley’s replacement Marios Ogkmpoe could find any vulnerability in the Celtic back four.
The bustling striker dragged his low shot wide when Alston threaded through the inside right channel.
Ogkmpoe also left Jullien feeling the effects of his introduction, the Frenchman requiring lengthy treatment for taking a crack on the chin.
Lennon reported the £7million defender to be none the worse for his worrying clash of heads ahead of his return to France.
Mikey Johnston will miss out, however, with Lennon forecasting another week to 10 days of an absence for the winger.
New signing Greg Taylor watched from the stand, Lennon explaining: ‘He’s not played for a few weeks and being away with Scotland he didn’t get any game time either.
‘We’ll fitness test him on Monday and see where he is.
‘If he’s okay, he will be around, if not he may need a bit of catching up to do. Looking at him in training, I don’t think that’s going to take too long.’
HAMILTON (5-4-1): Fon Williams; Want (McKenna 77), Fjortoft (Beck 70) Stubbs, Easton, McMann; Smith, Gogic, Collar, Alston; Oakley (Ogkmpoe 55). Subs (not used): Southwood, Cunningham, Mackinnon, Mayo. Booked: Fjortoft, Gogic. CELTIC (4-2-3-1): Forster; Elhamed, Jullien, Ajer, Bolingoli; Brown, McGregor; Forrest, Christie (Hayes 90) Elyounoussi (Rogic 68) Edouard (Bayo 77). Subs (not used): Gordon, Griffiths, Bauer, Ntcham. Booked: None. Referee: Don Robertson. Attendance: 5,300.