Hoops midfielder Stuart Armstrong has applauded the influence of James Forrest at Celtic after the winger helped the Parkhead side to victory in the Betfred League Cup final.

Forrest, Celtic's best player, broke the deadlock at Hampden against Motherwell before Moussa Dembele converted a soft penalty kick as Cedric Kipre saw red for the Fir Park side.

The goal made Forrest the only other Celtic player than Bobby Lennox to have scored three goals in three winning League Cup finals for the Parkhead side.

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And Armstrong believes that winger deserves to be regarded as one of the big-game players at the club.

“You can see the quality James has and what he brings to us,” said Armstrong. “It was an excellent finish and he has that capability. He is a player who has great composure on the ball. He has shown that in big games already this season.

“It was a tough game for us in that opening half. There wasn’t too much space and James’ goal was so important.

“I think that is what we have - big players here who step up in the big games and I think we have all seen that James is one of them this season with some of the performances that he has put in.

“Moussa is the same. You can forget that he is still a very young player because of his temperaments. He is very calm under any kind of pressure and that second goal was so important for us. It was a big moment.

“He kept his nerve to take the penalty and I think it is the sign of big players that they have that composure about them.”

Celtic’s successful defence of the trophy which marked the first of the Rodgers’ regime is testimony to the ruthless consistency of the Parkhead side.

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The win at Hampden represents the 65th domestic game without defeat.

Motherwell were aggrieved at the manner in which Scott Sinclair went down for the penalty and Armstrong had some sympathy for the circumstances that surrounded the goal that effectively killed the game off as a contest.

“It is tough to be in that position,” said Armstrong. “I felt for them a bit because it is never nice to have a man sent off in a final. I didn’t have a great view of the incident and I was unsure whether it was or wasn’t the right call but to be honest in a situation like that you are just going to take what the referee says and it came out well for us.

“You have to give credit to Motherwell because they were very organised but to get that breakthrough was vital. The sending off really hurt them and from there on in we really controlled the game.”

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“I think when you get a player sent off it does change the dynamic. Our passing became much more fluid after that because there was obviously so much more space and of course they then get more tired as the game goes on.

“But from our own point of view it was another happy experience at Hampden for us and another trophy in the cabinet for us.

“It is an amazing achievement for everyone involved.

“It says a lot about us as a team that we can keep going and keep being as consistent as we have been. It is really positive.”