THE date is Saturday, May 1, 2010, Celtic are two goals up against Motherwell at home, and there are nine minutes of normal time left on the clock. The Paradise side’s prior form under their recently departed manager Tony Mowbray has resigned them to second-place in the SPL title race, but interim boss Neil Lennon looks set to extend his league record so far to six wins from six.
Having already sent on-loan strikers Robbie Keane and Diomansy Kamara into the fray, the Irishman looks to the subs bench, eyeing his third and final swap of the afternoon, and settles on 18-year-old midfielder James Forrest. Neil Lennon knows the youngster well, having coached him at the club’s reserve side the previous season, and tells him to get stripped, go out and play his normal game, and, most importantly, enjoy himself.
The fourth official holds up his board and reveals the Hoops’ fresh-faced No.49 will replace No.46 – Aiden McGeady, a fellow winger and Youth Academy graduate, imminently bound for Russian Premier League outfit Spartak Moscow, in a deal which will make him Scottish football’s most lucrative export. After 252 games in green and white, this will be the Ireland internationalist’s final outing at Celtic Park, which seems fitting, given it’s Forrest’s first. The changing of the guard.
Just six minutes after Forrest entering play, Artur Boruc sends a long dead ball from deep inside his half towards Marc-Antoine Fortune. The French forward flicks the pass on with his head and the spritely winger bursts through the middle, using his strength to stretch out a leg and loop the ball over the advancing goalkeeper, John Ruddy, with his left foot. The net ripples and Forrest is swarmed by his colleagues. Not a bad start to senior-level football, by any means.
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