Alistair Johnston on the ‘incredible’ aspect of Celtic’s Hampden victory over Aberdeen

Celtic fans will feel a sense of relief as they now know their side will face Rangers in the Scottish Cup final after navigating past Aberdeen on penalties last weekend.

Nicolas Kuhn, James Forrest, and Matt O’Riley got on the scoresheet for the Bhoys; however, they were made to work for their return date at Hampden courtesy of Bojan Miovski, Ester Sokler, and Angus MacDonald.

Penalties ensued, and Joe Hart rolled back the years by saving Killian Phillips’ effort to seal a narrow victory, even if he frightened us earlier in the shootout by hitting the woodwork with his spot-kick.

Brendan Rodgers hailed veteran winger Forrest for his ‘brilliant contribution’ off the bench against the Dons, as the 32-year-old enjoyed a lively afternoon where he was a constantly available for the ball and willing to commit defenders.

He stated post-match: “He was absolutely brilliant, he changed the Game for us. It was just his composure and his quality. We started to keep the ball in the final third, he got the goal. He’s just a big-Game player with big-Game experience.”

Credit must also go to Adam Idah, Luis Palma, O’Riley, Paulo Bernardo, Alistair Johnston, and Tomoki Iwata, who all showed excellent composure from 12 yards despite being under immense pressure.

Now, we move on, and preparing to face Dundee this Sunday will be next on the radar in the first of five important post-split fixtures.

Alistair Johnston on what was ‘incredible’ about Celtic triumph

Canadian right-back Johnston has admitted his nerves were through the roof last Saturday during proceedings; however, he moved to commend the ‘incredible’ composure shown by his teammates to get over the line against Aberdeen.

Looking ahead, the 25-year-old has claimed Celtic will now quickly forget their dramatic triumph as they size up Scottish Premiership glory over the coming weeks.

He stated [Cited via The Daily Record]: “Every attacking player at Celtic, you are always judged on if you can make things happen.

“The manager doesn’t need to tell you that – you need to make an impact. I’m glad I was able to do that. We would have liked to have done it in 90 minutes but it maybe showed that extra bit of character.

“The boys who stepped up under pressure to take those penalties were incredible. It’s always worse when you are watching! We can put this to bed now and we have five leagues Games left now.”

Johnston later added: “The most important thing was to get through. Survive and advance as we call it at home.

“You forget about it. We’ll be back here in four or five weeks with a chance to win a trophy, and at Celtic, that’s what it’s all about. We’re excited about that. It was one where you felt the Football gods were on your side a little. It was just a crazy Football match.”

By any means necessary has become a slogan among some Celtic supporters in the last couple of months, and the players tapped into the mantra at Hampden, digging deep to see off a spirited Aberdeen outfit.

Granted, there were issues within our performance worthy of scrutinization; nevertheless, we got there in the end, which was the main priority on the day.

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