James Forrest has lauded the effort of Leigh Griffiths and Moussa Dembele after the duo combined to sink Rangers at Hampden yesterday and tee up Brendan Rodgers for the chance to claim his first trophy as Celtic manager.

Griffiths came off the bench to set up Dembele for a last-gasp winner to put the Ibrox side out of the Betfred League Cup.

And Forrest believes it was a just return for the manner in which Celtic dominated the game at Hampden against Mark Warburton’s side.

“If he gets a chance then Moussa is going to take it,” said Forrest. “He has done so well since he came here and his goals speak for themselves. He has been brilliant for us all season.

Read more: Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths still irked at the one that got awayGlasgow Times:

“All credit to him because he took it so well but Leigh did really well too. He is so good at that. People look at him and talk about the goals he scores but he creates a lot of chances for other players as well and not everyone sees that.

“He is a worker on the pitch.

“He is brilliant and his attitude his brilliant. There is a really settled team now and I think it is showing in our performances how much we are all enjoying playing under the manager. But I was delighted for Leigh because he deserved the chance to come on and set up the winner like that.”

Read more: Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths still irked at the one that got away

Booking their place in the Betfred League Cup final against Aberdeen will inevitable lead to further chat about the possibility of Celtic replicating the feats of Martin O’Neill and Jock Stein’s Celtic side’s and taking a clean sweep this term.

Forrest, though, has dismissed the chat and maintained that Celtic will not be distracted from the job in hand this season.

“I think we have already set a few markers this season by getting into the Champions League and playing so well in the league,” said the winger. “This just adds to that. It gives us a final to look forward to next month but we won’t take Aberdeen lightly in that one.

“We won’t be listening to anyone talk about Trebles or anything like that – and there is certainly no way that you will hear any of us speaking about it.

“It is only October. It is good that we are in the first final of the season and it would be nice to go and win that one for the manager and for the supporters but we won’t lose focus from the season.”

The scoreline could have been more comprehensive and Forrest believes that Erik Sviatchenko was denied what was a clear goal. However, the manner in which Celtic responded to that setback was something he applauded.

“I wasn’t too far away from that and the goal was alright,” said Forrest. “I thought it was a goal and I didn’t see the foul at all. But then I think our reaction to that was good. We didn’t let it affect us. We just kept our focus and kept plugging away because we felt as though the goal would come and it did.

Read more: Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths still irked at the one that got away

“The most important thing was just getting into the final and it was an unbelievable feeling to do it with a late winner like that. I think we feel that we could and maybe should have scored a few more goals but sometimes it doesn’t happen.

“We are just buzzing that we got ourselves through to the final. We had a lot of chances and we felt for most of the game that we were in control but at 0-0 you are never know and you do have that thought in the back of your head that all it takes is for them to go up the park and score one goal.

“But I thought from Craig Gordon right through to Moussa Dembele we put in a superb team performance and we deserved it.”