Celtic 4 - 0 Motherwell: Forrest torments visitors

AS A pre-amble to the arduous assignments ahead for Celtic in Madrid and Ibrox over the coming days, Neil Lennon might have felt the need to pinch himself at just how swimmingly the afternoon went for his side. Anything that could go right, did, as Motherwell were handed a real cuffing. From the exhilarating display of two-goal James Forrest, to a tidy debut from on-loan left-back Badr El Kaddouri, Lennon exhausted a dictionary-worth of superlatives as he reflected on a winning effort he, unsurprisingly, adjudged the best produced by his men this season.

No wonder when he could gush about four slick, sharp and clinical strikes, the Morrocan’s “excellent” first outing and, foremost, the fizzing, forcing forward play of Forrest. “We have held James back a bit this season because he can be prone to niggly injuries, but that was the best performance we have seen from him for a while,” the Celtic manager said. “You saw all his qualities and he was exceptional.”

He might not have the chance to be so again in the club’s Europa League group opener away to Atletico on Thursday. Lennon said he will “see how his recovery is”. The same is true of Joe Ledley, who came off with a lower back problem, and Scott Brown, missing yesterday with an ankle problem he picked up in Scotland’s August friendly against Denmark. Lennon conceded he would prioritise next Sunday’s derby were his medical team to advise that the Celtic captain couldn’t get through both games later in the week.

“He’s such a valuable player I don’t like leaving him out, but the league’s the priority,” he said, after admitting Brown could be a big player for his team in the Vincente Calderon, where he acknowledged possession and chances are certain to be as limited as they were limitless yesterday.

Celtic’s ability to completely overwhelm a Fir Park team they ultimately left bewildered and bedraggled could only have left Lennon buoyant considering he will still have a sinking feeling when he thinks of previous games in the arena; Celtic proving misshapen and misfiring to go down 1-0 to St Johnstone. Against a side who yesterday morning were joint top of the table, they were everything they weren’t against the Perth club.

After his team succumbed to St Johnstone, Lennon lacerated his forward players by declaring that the “front six were rank average”. Yesterday, from middle to front, to a man those in Celtic colours were irresistible. Inevitably, and rightly, Forrest’s efforts will command most attention. All that the 20-year-old and his team-mates excelled in was illustrated in his fourth-minute opener. The movement and interplay was delightful as Gary Hooper spread the play out wide to Anthony Stokes on the right and he, in turn, sent a curling ball across the face of the goal that Forrest thumped past the helpless Darren Randolph.

Forrest thereafter tormented and teased the Motherwell backline. He drifted in from the right and popped up everywhere in the final third to create neat combinations with Hooper, Stokes and Ledley, or surged forward to rain down efforts on Randolph’s goal, the keeper forced to make several decent saves before he was beaten a second time. In the lead-up to the counter, Steve Jennings also felt his face took a beating from the arm of scorer Ledley, who he said he had “the same off him down south. I’m not saying he means it, but he does it well,” Jennings said.

What Ledley did well as Celtic made it 2-0 was slot the ball in effortlessly after being in a central position eight yards out to accept a pass inside from Stokes. In a fluid move, the Irishman had been picked out by Forrest after he sliced his way down the middle of the Motherwell defence which, by this point, was shorn of the injured centre-back Shaun Hutchison, forced off after half an hour . “He’s on crutches and could be out long-term,” McCall said. “His ankle’s up like a balloon.” The Clydesdale Bank manager of the month wasn’t in the mood for dwelling on a dim day for his club. “Just as I said when we lost to the other half of the Old Firm two weeks ago, it’s about how you react to it. To take anything against these clubs, you need a combination of everything we didn’t have today. We told them at half-time there were still in it at 2-0, then Ki [Sung-Yeung] goes and bangs one in from 30 yards.”

A swish, swerving effort from the outside of the South Korean’s foot after the ball was worked to him by Hooper and Ledley, Forrest then wrapped up what he had started when he beetled forward and let fly with a thumping low effort that was going low until it struck Tim Clancy and veered high into the visitor’s net. The final 20-odd minutes were jazzed up by the first appearance of Mohamed Bangura, the £2.2m signing from AIK Stockholm. On Friday, the Sierra Leone striker suggested he doesn’t want to make too many before stepping on to Spain, England or Italy. The 22-year-old’s audacity, as well as his attributes, weren’t lost on Lennon. “He was lively and played on the shoulder of the defenders and got into the box. According to him, we’ve only got him for a year, so we have to make the most of him.”