'The Story Of' is a web series dedicated to small but special tales from Celtic’s illustrious history. Here, James Forrest remembers an injury that almost changed the course of history.

WHEN James Forrest found the net deep into injury time against Shakhter Karagandy on August 28, 2013, the East End of Glasgow erupted. Then 3-2 in front on aggregate against the Kazakhstani side, Neil Lennon’s Hoops were on-course for UEFA Champions League qualification for the second year running.

It was a magical moment on a typically electric evening of European football at Paradise, and was no less than the Scottish champions deserved on the night following a disappointing result on the road eight days prior.

By scoring the all-important matchwinner, Forrest capped off a wonderful piece of individual skill from Anthony Stokes by pinging the ball past an outstretched Mokin with a decisive right-foot. If he hadn’t done so already, he fired himself into Celtic folklore there and then, with a goal that would be spoken about for years and, surely, generations to come.

One lesser-known fact about that strike, however, is that the very right-foot that Forrest used to propel Celtic into the League group-stages for a second successive season almost forced him to retire from the crucial qualifier early, just minutes before his history-making effort.

“Five minutes before the goal, I rolled my ankle,” he explained. “I wasn’t even sure if I’d be able to see out the game. Stokesy did brilliantly to weave his way through that cluster of bodies, and was really unselfish with his cut-back as well. After that, I certainly didn’t feel any pain in my ankle once the ball hit the back of the net, that’s for sure!

“When Stokesy squared it, the only thing I remember going through my mind was to make good contact on the ball. I did that, and then the next thing I remember is being over at the corner flag, the stadium roaring, it was deafening on the pitch, and everybody piling on top me. I was buzzing. Absolutely buzzing. It wasn’t until watching the videos back that I realised the manager had ran all the way down the touchline to join in, I wasn’t aware of that at the time.”

The Story Of… The injury that almost spoiled Karagandy winner