FORREST IS A SMASH HIT
Impeccable timing yet again from Celtic saviour King James FOR ALL BREAKING SPORTS NEWS VISIT
THIS much can be safely said of James Forrest. When he scores for Celtic in a Champions League qualifier, his timing is always impeccable.
It’s four years since the Scotland winger calmly slotted the nation’s champions into the group stage with a priceless stoppage-time strike against Shakhter Karagandy.
That goal was worth £16million to Celtic. With UEFA increasing the riches on offer since then, the reward for the decisive strike against the champions of Norway could eventually come close to double that sum.
For 69 minutes here, the Parkhead side were engaged in football’s answer to rope-a-dope.
Rosenborg, a pretty average team if truth be told, lolled around the ropes for 45 minutes absorbing Celtic’s possession.
The second half was changing tone, changing tempo, when Forrest struck. Rosenborg, not before time, were throwing a punch or two.
Yet the knockout blow came from Celtic’s pocket dynamite with just over 20 minutes to play. A stunning strike floored the Norwegians just as they dared to believe.
This had been one of Scott Sinclair’s quieter nights. But his pass wide to Forrest, reverting to the right flank after starting at centre-forward, was the catalyst for a moment of inspiration.
A heavy first touch made it look, momentarily, as if the chance had gone. Determined to have a crack, however, Forrest lowered his head and thrashed a stunning strike high into the postage-stamp corner.
The only regret is he didn’t score two, squandering a marvellous chance after going one on one with Rosenborg keeper Andre Hansen nine minutes from time. Yet, make no mistake, this was a thoroughly deserved triumph. One which guarantees the Parkhead side Europa League football until Christmas as the minimum reward for reaching the Champions League qualification play-off round.
It was, in the end, everything Brendan Rodgers could have asked for. Disciplined, calm and utterly clinical at a critical juncture of the match.
This despite a squad shorn of some of its key talents.
Wrestling with a pre-match dilemma, Rodgers made the decision to leave Griffiths on the bench. It couldn’t last.
Neither, regrettably, could defender Erik Sviatchenko, the Dane overcoming his own injury to start the game.
By the 25th minute, Celtic had Forrest — a winger — at centreforward. And a holding midfelder — Nir Bitton — at centre-half after Sviatchenko limped from the field disconsolate, glancing to the heavens, after a collision in the middle of the pitch.
Already without Moussa Dembele and Dedryck Boyata, this much was clear: if Celtic were advancing to the play-off round, they would have to do it the hard way.
Rosenborg sat deep in Glasgow, organised and disciplined and unambitious in attack. Here, before their own fans, they were no different until the second half.
In contrast with the first leg at Parkhead, Celtic created clear first-half chances. Patience proved a virtue in the end.
The first opening fell to Sviatchenko, minutes before he began his slow trudge from the pitch. Sinclair, less effective here than Celtic would have hoped, was fouled close to the touchline.
Jonny Hayes, picked on the right flank, trotted to the other side to swing a dangerous left-footed cross into a crowded area. Sviatchenko made a strong contact and the ball looked destined to find the net until the unlikely figure of centre-forward Nicklas Bendtner blocked with his chest. The Danish defender’s last involvement was far from Celtic’s last chance. Kieran Tierney was a constant menace in an attacking sense. It was his driving run in 27 minutes which ended in a low, driven cross picking out the makeshift striker Forrest. The sidefoot strike was firm, but too close to Rosenborg’s keeper, Hansen showing fine reactions to push the ball over the crossbar.
Callum McGregor was also in from the start and his determination and pace provided another cross from the left flank five minutes before half-time.
Sinclair, not the tallest of players, was inches away from converting. Not for the first time the absence of a natural predatory up front had cost the Parkhead side.
With captain Scott Brown pulling the strings, Celtic really should have gone into the interval ahead. Brown himself had a curling shot on goal comfortably dealt with by Hansen.
The saving grace was a subdued threat in attack from the home team. Milan Jevtovic barely tested Craig Gordon with an early shot. In the last move of the half, Bendtner finally peeled away at the back post to place a header too close to Scotland’s goalie.
Yet there could be no question which of the teams had been the more threatening.
Rosenborg were so deep the Lerkendal ultras should have been quoting passages of Jean Paul Sartre. They had to come out at some stage. And the beginning of the second period marked a clear change in tempo. After two minutes of the restart, Bendtner was chesting a long ball into the path of Yann-Erik de Lanlay, dashing into space.
The winger’s low 20-yard effort on goal dragged inches wide of Gordon’s right-hand post. As if realising they, too, needed to score, Rosenborg began pressing Celtic higher up the pitch. In key areas. Trying to test the calm Rodgers spoke of before the match. Trying to force the goal.
Recognising the change in pace from the home side, Celtic’s manager played his joker.
The hope was obvious. That with Rosenborg pressing further up the pitch Celtic might find some space on the break. Entering the final nervy half hour, the first goal was now absolutely critical. Tierney curled a fine effort inches high and wide of the upright.
But, as in the second half at Parkhead, the team in white were more assertive in the second half than the first. For the first time in the match, the home support could sense something in the air.
What happened with 21 minutes left to play, then, was a godsend for Celtic. Sent back to his natural position on the right with the introduction of Griffiths, Forrest relaxed. It’s unlikely he’ll score a better, or more valuable, Celtic goal than the thumping, unstoppable effort which left Hansen with no chance.
Rosenborg now needed two goals, They were spent and well they knew it. The only regret for Celtic is that the margin of victory wasn’t greater. Griffiths dragged a shot inches wide of the far post moments after Forrest struck.
With three minutes to play, you’d have placed good money on 2-0 when McGregor sent the forward through on goal. The chance scorned, Forrest was then presented with an opportunity but Hansen produced a heroic, if futile, block.