Fraser Forster made 200th Celtic appearance in Livingston defeat

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Celtic goalkeeper Fraser Forster claimed a fine achievement against Livingston as he made his 200th appearance for the Hoops.

It was a shocking day all-round in West Lothian. Celtic had been pretty much outplayed by Livi for the majority of the game. As well as that, clear-cut chances for us were few and far between.

Nobody came off the pitch with their head held high, so it certainly wasn’t a day befitting of the achievement. However, after signing in the summer on loan from Southampton, it’s a fine number to have racked up for the club.

Speaking to the Celtic View (Volume 55, Issue 15, Page 18), Forster touched on his fine new record.

“It’s always nice to reach those milestones. I’ve never set out to play a certain number of games, but when you tick them off and someone tells you that it’s your 200th game or your 100th clean sheet, you’re always taken aback a bit.

“It’s great to make that many appearances for a club like this. Hopefully, there’s many more to come. If you’re making that many appearances for a big club like Celtic, you’re definitely doing something right and it’s a big achievement in and of itself.

“You always need to deliver on the pitch and on the training ground. That’s always the main focus. The milestones aren’t something you think about until they’re ticked off.”

Fraser looking the part so far after 200th game

You couldn’t seriously blame Forster for anything that happened in the 2-0 loss at Livi. He had absolutely no chance of getting Scott Robinson’s piledriver, although some won’t be pleased with him being chipped by Lyndon Dykes.

So far, Forster has accumulated just four clean sheets from eight games. Someone of his quality will want to improve on that, but it’s still not a bad return so far.

He’s a clear upgrade on Scott Bain, and looks to be more composed and reliable than big Craig Gordon too. He’s been a fine signing by Neil Lennon, who deserves praise for managing to bring him back.

The fact that it was his 200th appearance two weeks ago shows exactly the kind of role he played at Parkhead in his initial spell at the club. Already, it doesn’t look as though he’s lost any of the quality he had when he was younger.

Forster has also already saved two out of three penalties since joining the Hoops. This was an area we clearly struggled in under Gordon and Bain. Having that kind of reliability in goal is key for us.

He’s the number one by some distance these days, and come the end of the season, here’s hoping Fraser is much closer to the 250 mark.