Forrest turns clock back at perfect time for grateful Rodgers
AT a stage of the season when Brendan Rodgers expects his players to don their trophy heads, few have more experience of high-altitude atmospheres than James Forrest.
With four games to play, teams with league aspirations need seasoned campaigners rather than ‘projects’. They turn to those who can grind out titles when the nerves jangle and vibrate like the bells on the town hall clock.
In the veteran winger – 22 trophies and counting – they have an old stager who has been there time and again.
Regardless of whether the re-emergence of Forrest as the best winger at Celtic is a testament to his powers of endurance or a damning statement of recent recruitment, this much is beyond dispute. At the age of 32 and heading into the twilight of his career, there’s life in the old dog yet.
The first of his 11 league titles in green and white came 12 years ago. Like a twinkle-toed Bobby Lennox, two goals on a tense day in Dundee brought another one a significant step closer.
His first double since October 2022 began with a stunning piece of technique after half an hour. His second goal, after 67 minutes, settled Celtic down following a ropey start to the second half.
It was never plain sailing because, in this of all seasons, it rarely is. Sixteen minutes from time, substitute Adam Idah sliced Antonio Portales’ shot into his own goal and dragged Dundee into contention, which wasn’t the impact he had in mind.
The sight of Joe Hart being booked for time-wasting in the fifth minute of added time said much for the Dark Blues’ performance. They went toe to toe with the league leaders and might easily have snatched a point from set-pieces alone.
Forced to sit high in the stand after one yellow card too many, manager Tony Docherty watched stand-in captain Luke McCowan follow up his man-of-the-match display against Rangers with another fine individual display. While touchline bans rarely have an upside, a loftier view of his team matching Celtic for long spells was a consolation of sorts. Two points behind St Mirren in the race for Europe, it wasn’t quite enough.
Dundee had lost their last nine meetings with Celtic, the most recent being a 7-1 rout in Glasgow in February. At the risk of labouring the point, they were on their worst run against the team in green and white since a 13-game winless streak between October 1965 and October 1971.
Celtic started with a purpose which suggested the record wouldn’t be changing here. In a brisk, high-tempo opening, Nicolas Kuhn cut in from the right and tested keeper Jon McCracken with low long-range strikes.
The visitors scorned two glorious opportunities, the first of these when Ireland’s Liam Scales flicked a Matt O’Riley corner towards the back post where Greg Taylor seemed certain to score. Somehow McCracken blocked it on the line.
When Reo Hatate blew another golden chance, you began to wonder if it was going to be one of those tense, angst-ridden days for the defending champions.
When a team are going for the title, every minute without a goal brings anxiety. Dundee weathered an early storm and found their feet. They grew into the game and Amadou Bakayoko should have done better when he saw an enticing cross late only to divert the ball into Hart’s arms.
Celtic’s breakthrough came from virtually nothing after half an hour. Hatate gathered 30 yards from goal and fed Kyogo Furuhashi. A one-touch lay-off might have been down to poor control more than anything else. Whatever the truth, it bounced up enticingly for Forrest to smash the ball into the far corner of the net from 20 yards, giving McCracken no chance. It was a brilliant and timely strike.
Credit to Dundee for testing Celtic in a second half when they pressed them high, forcing errors and winning the set-pieces which caused real problems.
Owen Dodgson’s corners had much the same impact as guided missiles, and when Mo Sylla found space to direct one on goal he should have scored.
When another one picked out Jordan McGhee, he headed straight into the arms of Hart. He had to do better.
The BBC calculated that Celtic went fully 30 minutes without an effort on goal, the introduction of Adam Idah and Tomoki Iwata an acknowledgement by Rodgers that things were turning edgy. Forrest smashed home his second goal of the game and lifted a good deal of the tension affecting the visitors. From a Dundee perspective, the defending was dreadful. Portales (below) had the ball nicked off him on the left flank before Ricki Lamie and McGhee collided calamitously inside their own area.
The ball broke favourably for Forrest to thump it into the net for 2-0.
The assumption that the game was won was natural, but premature. Every time Dundee won a corner on the far side and Dodgson swung one in, they created panic in a Celtic defence where the central defenders were dragged out of position by decoys, leaving space on the penalty spot.
So it was, then, that Portales’ shot posed no real danger until Idah – only on the pitch 12 minutes – took a wild swing at the ball and it spun past Hart inside the post.
For Celtic, a nervous ending mattered less than the final outcome. Three points ahead of Rangers and five goals better off, two more home wins – over Hearts and their bitter rivals – will all but clinch a third straight title. On days like this, though, they don’t make it easy. DUNDEE (3-5-2): McCracken 7; McGhee 6, Portales 6, Lamie 6; Dodgson 6 (Mellon 85), Mulligan 4 (Donnelly 75),McCowan 7, Boateng 5 (Robertson 68), Sylla 6.5; Tiffoney 4.5 (Costelloe 68), Bakayoko 6. Manager: Tony Docherty 6.5 CELTIC (4-3-3): Hart 6; Johnston 6.5, CarterVickers 7, Scales 7, Taylor 6.5; McGregor 5 (Iwata 62), Hatate 6, O’Riley 5; FORREST 7.5 (Palma 72), Kyogo 4 (Idah 62), Kuhn 5.5. Booked: Hart. Manager: Brendan Rodgers 7.