James Forrest has given Cliftonville nightmares

CLIFTONVILLE skipper George McMullan has had nightmares about James Forrest since the Celtic winger gave him a hard time in the first leg of their Champions League second qualifier in Belfast last week.

The Scotland wide-man was in top form against the Northern Irish part-timers and scored the third goal in a convincing 3-0 win which means tonight’s return leg in Glasgow should be a formality.

Speaking at Celtic Park before Cliftonville’s training session last night, McMullan said: “I am not the quickest so I have been having a few nightmares about him running past me. We were hoping that playing against a part-time team they wouldn’t be on their game but they were.

“You watch Celtic year-in, year-out on television and they don’t look as quick as they are but once they get the ball down and get a turn of pace it is frightening. And to be fair, their quality on the ball showed that it there is a gulf between our league and Celtic. So I have nothing but admiration and respect for Celtic and the way they played. And as much a nightmare as it was, it is actually good nightmares, ones I enjoy having.”

Reds manager Tommy Breslin admits the game against Celtic is a damage-limitation exercise for his side who have been in Glasgow since Sunday.

He said: “In reality it probably is (damage limitation). We are not going out to roll over. I don’t want to be on the wrong end of a drubbing and that could be a possibility.

“We are here to try to frustrate Celtic and try to give a good account of ourselves. But as an occasion we are looking forward to it. We know it is going to be a tough game. Let’s put it into perspective, we are a part-time club. I feel we have the best players for our league but we are coming up against a team who were in the last 16 of the Champions League not so long ago. That’s what we are up against.”