IT'S a plea as impassioned as it is understandable, borne of frustration and desire to move on.

James Forrest has just concluded another post-match interview, the crux of which was, once again, his fitness rather than his football.

The 23-year-old believes it is old ground, over which he has seen many people trample.

Some have been more sure-footed than others, in terms of their knowledge of the subject matter.

Most know little more than that he broke into the first team as a precocious 18 year-old with a goal against Motherwell, and that he appears to have spent the next five years flitting from injury to rehab to injury.

In fact, he has played 151 games - including eight for Scotland - in that time, scoring 24 goals in the process.

Clearly, the entire history of his anatomy has all become just a tad too tedious for Forrest to enjoy having others dissect and probe it any more.

He wants to look forward, not back. He wants to discuss what he is doing on the park, not what he is doing to get out there.

Sure, Forrest is appreciative of the patience shown - and continuing to be shown - by Ronny Deila, the physios and medical staff at Lennoxtown as they adopt a holistic approach to his unique physical issues.

The manager is convinced that, too often in the past, Forrest has not been given the time to fully overcome a problem before his qualities have been thrown back into action.

The analytical Deila went as far to work out that the winger has missed two out of the most recent four years of his career.

He is now determined to allow him the time and support to build the solid base from which to push on from this point, unfettered by the self-doubt over his own fitness which has prevented Forrest from showing what he has, never mind developing into what he can be.

Glimpses of that are starting to peak through, and Deila predicts Forrest will be a key player for club and country over the couple of months this season has to run.

That's music to the ears of a young man who is fed up listening to the same old tune about his fitness, which has become the soundtrack to his career.

He shuffled uneasily when he believed the line of questioning was going to be than oh-too-familiar fitness riff, and quickly rapped he'd much rather talk competition than condition.

Forrest is too polite to refuse to discuss his well-being, but he has proved adept at figuratively dropping a shoulder and swerving in a direction where he wants to go.

"It's part and parcel of life for me," he said of the unrelenting and unhealthy national interest in his hamstring/groin/back.

"You get it all the time. You can say it's annoying, and I'd much rather talk about my football.

"I'm 23, but I have played a lot of games.

"Injuries are part of the game, and I know everybody gets them.

"Maybe I've had them more often than anybody else.

"But, I just want to keep working hard, and get over that."

There is no anger to the tone. Forrest simply believes he has earned the right to request the focus moves beyond how he has emerged from a game or a training session.

"Since I came back in November, I have felt better and better," he said, driving down a positive line.

"I just want to keep going, not look back, and continue doing what I am doing."

Forrest agrees that, for him, the season is coming to its thrilling climax too soon.

With the Scottish Cup final set to bring down the curtain on May 30, and Scotland's final international of the extended season scheduled for Dublin a fortnight later, he is just finding his electric stride.

It could be the trump card in the hand Deila and Gordon Strachan have to play.

It's certainly a far cry from this time last season when the man who gave him his chance at first-team level, Neil Lennon, had already celebrated the title in record-breaking time.

Aberdeen have ensured Celtic have been pushed much deeper into this campaign before four-in-a-row can be secured and the Treble dream kept alive.

Derek McInnes' side are now starting to show signs of battle fatigue, and the gap between them is seven points.

But Forrest is respectful of the challenge they have thrown down and does not expect them to simply fade away.

"I think it has been good that Aberdeen have been tremendous right up to now," he said.

"They don't look as though they are going to drop many points, so we are going to have to be at it in every game and make sure we don't slip up."

That includes in tonight's match against a Thistle side who held the Dons to a draw at Pittodrie on Saturday.

Such is the ferocity of the fixture list, Forrest and Co. will barely have time to draw breath after one game before they will be right into the next.

"It's an incredible schedule of games we've got in the run in," he admitted.

"But, you see the squad we have got, and it's really good for the manager that he knows he can tinker with the team, as he did against St Mirren last week.

"I think that is going to be a positive for us as we try to add the league championship and Scottish Cup to the League Cup we already have this season."

Contrast that to fighting for survival, at top-six place, or simply seeing out fixtures, and Forrest acknowledges that few, if any, would have any sympathy should Celtic players start to bleat about their heavy workload.

"No one here is complaining," Forrest quickly interjected.

"Even though we have played more than anyone else already this season, we'd rather be playing two games a week than one at this stage.

"We have the squad to cope.

"But, we don't look too far ahead, anyway, which is why it's the game against Thistle tonight that we are all focusing on."