James Forrest takes positives from Holland draw as Scotland focus on Luxembourg

The Scots are on a high following their 2-2 friendly draw with Holland in Portugal on Wednesday night.

Pa Sport Staff
Thursday 03 June 2021 08:12 EDT
James Forrest in action for Scotland
James Forrest in action for Scotland (PA Wire)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

James Forrest insists there are positives aplenty as Scotland look to Sunday’s final pre-Euro 2020 friendly against Luxembourg

The Scots are on a high following their 2-2 friendly draw with Holland in Portugal on Wednesday night.

It took a last-minute goal from Memphis Depay – from a dubiously-awarded free-kick – to deny Steve Clarke’s side the victory, with Jack Hendry and Kevin Nisbet scoring their first international goals and David Turnbull and Billy Gilmour making their debuts.

To boot, the Scotland squad was shorn of seven players after John Fleck tested positive for Covid-19 with David Marshall, Stephen O’Donnell, Nathan Patterson, Grant Hanley, John McGinn and Che Adams left behind in Spain – where the squad had been training – as a precaution.

Forrest, who was playing his first Scotland game since last September after missing much of last season after ankle surgery, told the Scotland National Team Twitter account: “There were a lot of positives.

“A couple of debuts in there, myself not being in the squad for a while – all round it as a good night for the manager.

“I am delighted for David and obviously Billy coming on as well and Kevin getting his first goal for Scotland.

“There are so many positives, all the lads that played did really well and it’s good for the manager.

“It went really well and we look forward to the Luxembourg game.”

After returning to the Celtic side towards the end of last season, Forrest is glad to be back on the international scene in time for the delayed European Championship.

He said: “It has been a really enjoyable week. The training has been good, the intensity has been good and everyone is raring to go.

“It was good to get the first game. The boys looked gutted in the changing room but we still got a draw against Holland so I think that shows that we did play well.

“Fleck testing positive was the only downside but apart from that training has been really good and it was good getting back among the boys.

“I have been working hard for months to get back involved so to be finally out there, starting, playing and obviously getting a good result with the boys – I was delighted to contribute.”

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in