WITHIN a short career punctuated by too many injury-related lows to mention, there remains one spectacular high which James Forrest, now fit and cautiously optimistic of the future, hopes to replicate over the course of the next eight weeks.

 

It was the evening of August 28, 2013. Celtic, two goals down from a chaotic performance away from home in the opening leg, had pulled the aggregate scoreline back to 2-2 against Shakhter Karagandy of Kazakhstan in a play-off for a place in the group stage of the Champions League.

The nerve-shredding tension of extra-time and perhaps even penalty-kicks beckoned as Anthony Stokes skipped between two orange jerseys on the left-hand side of the area and squared the ball into the centre. Forrest saw his chance. And seized it.

A crisp, first-time strike with the instep of his right boot soared past the goalkeeper, Aleksandr Mokin, to ripple the net and spark off celebrations that registered on the Richter Scale.

Forrest, just a slip of a boy, was, within seconds, buried underneath his exultant team-mates. Neil Lennon, who branded the victory the greatest thing he had ever achieved in football, ran the length of the touchline - punching the air in the process - before producing the leap of a mountain goat to complete the human pile-up.

It summed up the beautiful insanity of football. It also showed exactly what making it to the Champions League proper means to the Parkhead club ahead of their opening qualifying match against Stjarnan of Iceland in eight days' time.

"Celtic should be in the Champions League and that night against Shakhter Karagandy was unbelievable," recalled Forrest. "It is something I will never forget.

"We had lost the first leg 2-0, so the way things turned out was extra-special. Because the goal came in the last minute, everyone was on such a high.

"All the boys want that feeling again. Getting through to the group stages is class.

"We have a good squad this year and everyone has come back looking sharp. The big aim right at the start of the season is to get that Champions League place and that's what we are all working towards."

Forrest is honest enough to admit that gaining entry to club football's premier tournament has become the central focus of Celtic's season. It has become an inescapable truth.

Ronny Deila's side will, inevitably, retain the Ladbrokes Premiership title. With Rangers still out of the picture and no-one possessing the resources to challenge their dominance, even a domestic treble would not increase the heartbeat of a Celtic supporter quite the way a floodlit, November visit of Real Madrid or Chelsea unquestionably would.

"It's the most important thing and it comes right at the start of the season," said Forrest.

"In that way, it's probably good that most of the boys haven't had much time off. When that happens, it can sometimes take that extra bit of time to get back into things.

"Everyone is near enough fit. It will just take a couple of games to get right back there."

Forrest is certainly happy to be given the opportunity to take up where he left off just a matter of weeks ago when saying his farewells to the Scotland camp in the wake of the 1-1 draw with the Republic of Ireland in the European Championship qualifiers.

Deila has worked on making him psychologically stronger while Celtic's sports science team have devised custom-made work-outs to place his body in greater balance and endeavour to bring an end to the succession of muscle problems that have hampered his progress.

So far, it seems to have been working. Forrest closed last season in decent form and, rather than bemoaning the absence of a meaningful summer holiday, is happy to be back in the thick of things.

"The last six months of last season were good for me," he said. "I'm glad that the break wasn't too long over the summer and I could just keep ticking over. Now, I just want to kick on again.

"I've had problems in terms of injuries, but that happens. A lot of players go through it. Some are lucky enough to avoid it in their careers, but it is about how you deal with it.

"I hope I have come back stronger. I feel that's what I did in the last six months."

Not everything in the garden is rosy, though. Forrest, replaced by Liam Donnelly with 20 minutes to play, struggled along with most of his team-mates in a comprehensive 5-3 defeat at the hands of Dukla Prague in a pre-season friendly at St Mirren Park on Saturday.

Deila made it clear that considerable improvement will be required in Friday night's meeting with Real Sociedad as preparations for the visit of Stjarnan step up a gear.

Forrest points out that the majority of the first-team squad had only reported back for training in the days leading up to the match with Dukla and is certain that a further week of work together will bring dividends.

"There were players arriving at all different times during the week,"

he said. "It was good for everyone to get a run-out and get back to a match situation. I thought we played some good stuff at times, but, obviously, there are a lot of things we need to work on.

"It's always hard defensively in these games when you make that many subs and change things around, but we need to make sure that we don't concede the same amount again in the next friendly.

"I'm confident we will be ready in time for Stjarnan."