Celtic's James Forrest fired up by opportunity to reach Euro Under-21 finals

Celtic winger James Forrest believes he's the latest in a long line of Parkhead wide Bhoys - and if you know your history then you'll be aware that it stretches from Jimmy Delaney and Jimmy Johnstone through Davie Provan and Aiden McGeady to the 19-year-old.

Manager Neil Lennon rates him the most promising prospect at the club and has no doubt that he can also make his mark in Parkhead folklore. Even though the first three retired long before he was born, Forrest knows all about what they could do.

"I've watched DVDs of the old stars," he said. "With the under-19s we would always watch them the day before a game. Bobby Lennox is from down my way in Ayrshire and is an absolute legend.

"That's why I'm happy to be part of this wingers' tradition and I hope I can carry it on. I've played a few first-team games now and want to keep it going and keep doing well.

"I had no particular hero, but I always liked wingers, the guys that would take people on. Hopefully, that's what I am like myself."

Forrest's breakthrough with his club level has also been mirrored at representative level. On Tuesday at Pittodrie he came off the bench to create Chris Maguire's winning goal against Austria which took Scotland's Under-21 team into the play-offs for the European Championships next summer.

Fortune favoured Billy Stark's side in Friday's draw, which paired the Scots with Iceland rather than Italy or Spain. Forrest admits to feeling rather sheepish about accepting praise for the under-21s' success.

"I do feel quite lucky because it is the first time I have been in the squad and I am getting all the congratulations when it's the other lads who have really done the job," he said. "Even though I've not really been a part of it, it was great to get through to the play-offs. To get through to the qualifiers is a great result and I am still buzzing about it. It's something to look forward to. Iceland won't be a bad team, but it would be great to get past them because then we would have the finals to look forward to. You want to play in big tournaments.

He added: "Maybe the reserve league going helped me because meant we were playing better teams," he said. "I do think that being in the development squad last season brought my game on. We were going down to playing teams in England, the likes of Sunderland, Newcastle and Ipswich at their stadiums which was good experience.

"I was on the bench a lot last season, which has made it easier to make the step up,"