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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Robbie Hanratty

Forrest eager to emulate Celtic form with Scotland after being handed second chance

A lot can change in nine weeks - and that's exactly what Celtic winger James Forrest has found out. 

The 32-year-old spent the last international break at the end of March playing a bounce game for his club against St Mirren, while he watched many of his Hoops teammates jet off to feature for their country.

Between November 28 and April 20, Forrest had played only 148 first minutes and looked to have fallen way down the pecking order under Brendan Rodgers

Forrest's last Scotland appearance came in a friendly defeat at home to Czech Republic almost three years ago.

However, after being given a route back into Rodgers' starting XI, his scintillating late season form during Celtic's road to lifting yet another Scottish Premiership title has propelled him right back into Steve Clarke's thoughts ahead of Euro 2024.

Speaking about being included in Clarke's 28-man provisional squad for the highly-anticipated tournament in Germany, the 38-time capped forward confessed: "In the March international break I was playing a bounce game, for the ones that don't go away on international, against St Mirren at Lennoxtown. 

"So, it just shows you that in football if you keep working hard, you get a chance and stuff can change. 

"Obviously I've played for Scotland before as well so it's not anything new but obviously just the way it's happened, I've not been in a camp for a number of years. 

"I think Scotland is all about players that go there with confidence and we can feed off each other.

“From when I was 18 or 19 right through until now, I think if you’re playing well for Celtic then you’ve got a good chance to be in the Scotland team.

“They’ve done really well qualifying and it’s a tight group there but I think I can add to that and help the boys as well.

“That’s what I’m looking to do.”

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