FORREST GETS BACK IN THE GROOVE AS HOLDERS SEE OFF FALKIRK
Winger breaks down Bairns and proves he will still be key man in Howe’s revolution
GIVEN the scale of the rebuild facing the new Celtic manager, it’s debatable how much Eddie Howe would have learned from tuning in to this lop-sided cup tie.
The former Bournemouth boss is expected to sign up for the challenge in midweek but was nowhere to be seen as the holders defeated opponents from two league tiers down and with at least one eye on their own promotion push.
Many of the players who slogged their way through this match won’t be at Parkhead next season but there was some Easter joy provided by the re-emergent James Forrest, who scored the deflected opening goal on his first start after a sixmonth injury absence.
A key component of the Nine-in-aRow era, Forrest will be around to help next term but the night’s second scorer Ryan Christie is one of several players drifting into the final year of his contract, while the third goal came from Moi Elyounoussi, a player set to return to parent club Southampton.
Before then, Celtic hope to deliver some cheer to a miserable campaign by retaining the Scottish Cup and in that respect, interim boss John Kennedy can declare this a job successfully completed.
Fans of either side would have found much to puzzle them in the respective starting line-ups.
For Celtic, the obvious talking point was the inclusion of Forrest, Scott Brown and Leigh Griffiths.
An ankle injury has rendered Forrest blameless in this season’s failure and, starting for the the first time since a Europa League tie in Riga, he now has a clear target of proving his fitness and form ahead of Scotland’s tilt at Euro 2020.
Since Celtic’s last match against Rangers, Brown has confirmed his intention to quit the club after 14 years, but was chosen by interim boss Kennedy to lead the team out as Callum McGregor rested up after his international exertions.
With Che Adams now on board it may be too late for Griffiths to play his way into Steve Clarke’s thoughts.
This was the striker’s first start under Kennedy and the sluggish, not-quite-there look that has defined his season blighted his hour on the pitch.
Working out just how Kennedy was going to shape the team around the No9 was difficult as in Christie, Tom Rogic and David Turnbull, he had three candidates to play off the front.
Instead, it was Forrest who started in an unfamiliar striking role ahead of a midfield diamond that had Turnbull at the attacking tip.
The idea was presumably for full-backs Jonjoe Kenny and Diego Laxalt to provide width but Falkirk were successful in diverting much of the play into a congested infield.
With Cove Rangers breathing down their necks at the top of League One, Lee Miller and David McCracken prioritised Tuesday’s fixture against Airdrie, making eight changes to the side that drew with Dumbarton in midweek.
Yet with on-loan Rangers defender Kyle McClelland marshalling the back line on his debut, they did a grand job of repelling their hosts until half-time.
It was Turnbull who threatened first with a low shot that was turned wide by Robbie Mutch and the midfielder took the resulting corner short before picking out Griffiths on the penalty spot.
The striker had time to make a clean connection but his shot whistled wide when he really ought to have put his team in front.
Griffiths played Forrest in for a shot but the angle was too tight to beat Mutch and there was frustration in the shots Christie and Griffiths lashed off target.
Nothing was happening for Griffiths, even his attempts at appealing for a penalty, when becoming entangled with Kai Fotheringham, were met with a stone-wall response from referee John Beaton.
Turnbull had better fortune as Beaton awarded a free-kick for a foul from Scott Mercer on the edge of the box but he could only find the roof of the net.
At times, centre-back Kristoffer Ajer seemed Celtic’s best attacking weapon, his ball-carrying gallop from deep changing the angle of attack and yielding one worthy, if a little wild, shot.
Half-time would presumable have brought an order from Kennedy not to let the game drift into extra-time and from the restart there was urgency as Rogic foraged forward and teed up Griffiths for a shot kept out by the feet of Mutch.
Just as it was becoming inevitable that Kennedy would turn to his substitutes for an opening, the floodgates opened.
Rogic helped Forrest to his comeback goal, burrowing into the box and feeding the 30-year-old who checked back and dispatched a shot that beat Mutch courtesy of a deflection off Lewis Neilson.
Within two minutes, the lead was doubled as Christie found his range with a low, drilled shot from 20 yards. Mutch stemmed the flow as he reacted to another deflection, this time from a Laxalt hit.
Forrest ought to have had a second but he fluffed a shot wide on the rebound after Mutch saved from Turnbull, who was eventually replaced by Elyounoussi.
A scorer against Rangers a fortnight earlier, the Southampton loanee was again bright during his cameo and clipped the bar before adding some polish to the scoreline when he killed Kenny’s low cross with his left and dinked a delightful finish over Mutch with his right.
Sub Albian Ajeti and Brown came close as the energy seeped out of plucky Falkirk legs.
The Celtic board now turn their attentions to finalising Howe’s deal, one that will surely include significant player investment.