FORREST IS ICE COLD IN IBROX

JAMES FORREST has ridden the wave of Old Firm hysteria often enough over the last 15 years to know what’s key to ensuring a smooth passage out the other end.

- FRASER WILSON

Thirty-two times the Celtic winger has entered the derby madness — and in exactly half of those he’s emerged from the chaos a winner.

No other player who will step into the Ibrox cauldron this lunch time has as long an association with the fixture as the 34-year-old who got his first taste as a teenager in a 2-0 win in Govan way back in January 2011.

So much has changed for both clubs in the years since that day when Georgios Samaras’ double saw Neil Lennon’s men leave enemy territory with bragging rights.

But while personnel, tactics and form might all be variables, one thing that never changes is the need for calm among the frenzy. Keeping cool when others are allowing fire to dictate their decisions.

That’s the message Brendan Rodgers will be driving into the derby debutants such as Benjamin Nygren and Michel-Ange Balikwisha when they cross the city in the next few hours.