THE SILENT CENTURION
Celtic’s quiet man Forrest hits hat-trick to reach his ton and hammer hapless Hibs
APPROACHING kick-off, James Forrest would have been delighted just to make his first start of the season.
A couple of hours later he was clutching the match ball and awkwardly acknowledging the acclaim of a crowd who’d witnessed a hat-trick containing his 100th Celtic goal.
It’s customary for the hero of the hour to lead Celtic’s post-match lap of honour but fat chance with Forrest, who was happy to hang back in the herd, an oversized tracksuit jacket draped round his body as if he wished to disguise himself from the adoring eyes of the support.
Crowded out by Jota, Liel Abada, Daizen Maeda and now Sead Haksabanovic in competition for the two wide attacking roles in Ange Postecoglou’s team, the 31-year-old has regressed to the role of fringe player at Celtic Park.
While he may no longer be able to run with the same speed as those younger team-mates, this was a timely reminder of his finishing accuracy, something that has been a talking point regarding Celtic’s struggle to pick up Champions League points this season.
We’re firmly in rotation season at Parkhead and Forrest’s inclusion was just one of five changes made by Postecoglou to the side that lost to Leipzig in midweek.
In his 65 minutes on the pitch he smashed a few preconceptions regarding the degree to which his output had degraded over the past year or two.
Finally injury-free, the pluck appears to be back in his play, a Champions League cameo against the Germans offering a taster for the pay-off here.
Not that the defending of a bewildered-looking Hibs team made it especially difficult.
It’s been hard to know what to make of Lee Johnson’s Hibs to this point. A four-game winning streak had sent the Edinburgh club flying up the Premiership table but a midweek loss at bottom-of-the-table Dundee United appears to have knocked the wind from their sails.
The manager himself talks about his team in colourful terms but often to the point where he moves analysis off at a tangent. And maybe that’s the point.
Before this game he reasserted his high opinion of the Celtic ball boys and girls, a flag that perhaps he wished to disrupt Celtic rather than take them on at their own game.
With Harry McKirdy and Martin Boyle deployed either side of Mykola Kukharevych, the Edinburgh side had the personnel to carry a threat but lacked a link from a midfield department too preoccupied with covering the blur of green and white jerseys bursting into the pockets behind them.
Forrest may have taken maximum advantage but, for the first half, this Celtic performance was powered by the man occupying the wide berth on the other side of the pitch.
Signed from Rubin Kazan in August, Haksabanovic has slowly been getting up to speed as a Celtic player.
Here he turned on the afterburners, lighting up the match with an exquisite first touch in the opening seconds and then playing a pivotal role in the initial three goals.
The Montenegrin international has expressed a preference for playing off the left flank and he showed precisely why — first with a direct assist for Forrest’s first, a deep, looping cross that invited the winger to side-foot a finish inside the far post.
A burrowing Haksabanovic run sparked the second, this time with the aid of Alexandro Bernabei’s overlapping run.
The Argentinian took over from his colleague at speed and delivered a crisp low ball that, just like in Perth last weekend, Giorgos Giakoumakis couldn’t resist hammering home with a one-touch finish.
Haksabanovic’s persistence preceded the third, his low ball causing havoc in the visiting defence. When Matt O’Riley’s eventual shot was blocked, Forrest took over and generated enough power to flummox the unsighted David Marshall, who got plenty behind the effort but not enough to prevent it creeping over the line.
If the decision to take off Haksabanovic at half-time had Celtic fans scratching their heads and then worrying about an injury, there was less mystery over the wholesale switches made by Johnson.
Four of the five available changes were made, McKirdy and Kukharevych joining full-backs Chris Cadden and Lewis Stevenson for an early shower.
Forrest had been eyeing up his hat-trick goal just seconds before Hibs countered.
Played in by some quick passing via O’Riley and Reo Hatate, Forrest skipped into a shooting position only for his left-foot effort to blocked by sub Rocky Bushiri.
Hibs instantly hit the front foot with Boyle finding Elio Youan in the right channel. The French forward’s finish was ice-cool and perfectly found the gap between Joe Hart and his left-hand post.
Rather than use their goal as a platform to climb back into the contest, Hibs almost instantly gave up a fourth needless opportunity to Celtic.
Nohan Kenneh was the culprit, ceding possession to Aaron Mooy, who’d had an efficient if low-key afternoon in the advanced No10 role.
The Australian claimed an assist with the pass that allowed Forrest to claim his treble, a rising finish into the far corner that took a nick off Paul Hanlon for effect.
Postecoglou withdrew Forrest to loud acclaim, a rare ovation for a player who has never sought attention and probably missed out on due credit as a result. His replacement was Abada, who showed plenty intent of his own and carved out a second for Giakoumakis, the little Israeli streaking to the byline and cutting back for a pin-point finish from the Greek that kissed the post on its way in.
Postecoglou may be an idealist but that ought not to be confused with sentimentality.
The sight of Giakoumakis hobbling after his goal was enough for the manager to reach back for his substitute options, even though the player would doubtless have preferred to stay on.
There was still time for Celtic to add to their haul.
Kyogo rattled the post, Abada wasted a one-on-one against Marshall and finally Daizen Maeda, Haksabanovic’s half-time replacement, sealed the scoreline with a finish from Mooy’s cross.