Reports of James Forrest's Celtic demise have been greatly exaggerated - Sean Martin

His response? The tiniest of smiles.

The Celtic winger hasn't had the best of seasons, not even close to it in fact, but Sunday felt different. The cherry goal in a long-overdue and potentially pivotal 3-1 win in West Lothian was already in the bag, yet that only partly explains why his reaction to Holt's cynical challenge in a distinctly unthreatening area of the pitch was not anger, nor even mild irritation, but seemingly satisfaction.

That reaction, you see, was the manifestation of something a bit deeper than the tackle itself merited. It was a sort-of recognition - to himself, as much as anyone else - that he was finally frustrating the life out of an opposing team again. That he was in the groove and, as such, was a problem. A smile that said this is more like it.

There hasn't been much of it so far this season though. Last week's cameo against St Mirren gave arguably the first real peek of positivity since the League Cup semi-final goal against St Johnstone but, generally speaking, injuries and the form of others have conspired to sideline Forrest for the bulk of this term.

He has just 1,542 minutes of action behind him so far this season. In simpler terms, that's the equivalent of around 17 matches; the Livi game was Ange Postecoglou's 50th in charge of Celtic.

That lack of game-time, and his perceived lack of impact when presented with some, has naturally led to speculation about his future and whether he truly has a place in Postecoglou's brave new world as an ageing winger.

In that sense, it seems reports of Forrest's demise may have been greatly exaggerated.

OK, not totally. The underlying data does still point to a regression, which is only natural for a 30-year-old winger, but he's certainly far from a non-runner. His contribution to Celtic's 3-1 win at Livingston showed why.

In a crucial match against notoriously difficult opponents - no player in the Celtic squad had been on the winning side at Almondvale before save for James McCarthy, who did it twice with Hamilton over a decade ago - Postecoglou chose to start Forrest for the first time in six league games. That vote of confidence cannot be understated.

"I know he’s still got it - it’s just a matter of him getting a run," Postecoglou had said of Forrest before the match. "I know he’s going to be a valuable contributor for us before the end of the season."

He repaid his boss's faith and then some. Linking well with right-back Anthony Ralston all afternoon, Forrest gave his critics a glimpse into what he can still add to this team and why his manager stated his belief in him so publicly.

READ MORE: Celtic laid Livingston demons to rest thanks to Ange Postecoglou's three Rs - rotation, resilience and relentlessness

While he has always utilised rapid short-distance acceleration to his advantage, he possesses more guile than he is perhaps often given credit for. And unorthodox though his gait may be, it matters not a jot when the movement that accompanies it is so intelligent.

Just look at his goal at Almondvale. Livingston actually recovered the ball in the middle third and had a decent chance to manufacture a break but, rather than return stoically to his wide berth, Forrest anticipated that a successful counter-pressure might come and doubled down on his decision to stay inside as an auxiliary striker.

Continuing to drift in-field, he got in between the Livingston left-back and centre-back to make it easy for Jota (himself familiar with being on the end of a frustrated tackle or two and one of several who deserved man of the match on Sunday) to slip him through on goal after Callum McGregor and Tom Rogic had combined to win back the ball.

That the pinpoint finish into the far corner was with his weaker foot serves simply to underline the purpose with which he was playing. It was not an easy goal to score, despite how Forrest made it look.

He would likely have been on the scoresheet even earlier had he not turned his ankle just prior to shooting after a ghostly run behind the centre-backs to collect Nir Bitton's fantastic clipped pass too.

Beyond the goal chances, his 76 minutes of action generally consisted of high-quality off-ball movement with some good inter-play and an assortment of dinks, jinks, twists, turns as well as traces of that still as-yet unquantifiable metric: inner confidence.

He showed fortitude - to capitalise on indecision in the Livi backline, beating two players off the cuff and driving into the box before finally being halted - and no shortage of courage either, such as competing for and winning what was probably a 60-40 challenge against him to buy a throw-in and spoil momentary Livi momentum just before coming off.

Add to that the little things like his decision to cut in and shoot when faced with a lack of forward passing options - those who have watched him over the years know that if he starts to dilly-dally or automatically slides the ball backwards in such situations it is usually a giveaway that he's not feeling at his confident best - then you start to get the picture. Things just felt that bit more right for Forrest at Almondvale.

These are not, you may have noticed, descriptions of a player seemingly heading towards the scrap heap.

While it could very well be the case that Celtic cannot rely on Forrest to perform like this three times a week, every week anymore that doesn't necessarily mean he is unable to play a pivotal role under Postecoglou in this title run-in and beyond. 

"It is not easy when you don’t get a run of games but his quality has always been there," Postecoglou said of Forrest after the game. "He is a winner, you know. We are going to need those types.

"I don’t know if he was lacking in confidence, more he lacked a little bit of rhythm and that spark you need when you are an attacking player."

That spark reignited at Almondvale. Whether it burns as brightly between now and the end of the season, who knows.

But Forrest felt it, and the Livi players did too. Suddenly it's not that difficult to understand why he allowed himself that small smile. This is more like it.