Celtic managed to record their sixth victory on the trot last Saturday against a dogged Ross County side at Parkhead.
Alistair Johnston’s heavily deflected effort in the opening minute was enough for the Hoops to narrowly defeat the Staggies 1-0 on home soil, opening up a five-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership table.
In truth, Brendan Rodgers’ men didn’t put on a vintage performance and could’ve easily been pegged back late on. However, Joe Hart stepped up to prevent Jordan White from levelling before Josh Sims scooped over in stoppage time for the visitors.
Despite a nervy ending, most fans will point to Luis Palma’s penalty miss on 28 minutes as an explanation as to why Celtic weren’t as comfortable as they should’ve been on the day.
Following Callum McGregor being impeded in the area, the Honduran winger missed twice from the spot after George Wickens palmed away his initial effort before seeing his save ruled out due to encroachment.
Nevertheless, Wickens then thwarted Palma’s second attempt from 12 yards, forming part of what was an impressive display from the Fulham loanee, who made six saves in total at Parkhead [Sofascore].
Matt O’Riley took to social media offering support to Palma after his unfortunate luck on Saturday; nevertheless, the former Aris man has a strong character and will hopefully recover from his frustrations.
George Wickens explains how he thwarted Celtic star Luis Palma
Celtic fans will be keeping a close eye on capable goalkeepers in and around the Scottish Premiership as Joe Hart’s contract at Parkhead continues to run down.
Nobody is saying Wickens is good enough to warrant a move to the Bhoys; however, his performance at the weekend will rightfully be applauded.
Speaking about how he managed to keep Palma’s two penalties out, the Ross County stopper revealed that he had done his homework on the Honduran.
He stated [Glasgow Times]: “We do our homework on it a couple of days before each game. On a Thursday we look through a number of things Celtic do. Not just penalties, but that was one aspect of it. Luckily, I have managed to go the right way twice.
“I think we always just speak about percentages. The first one was based off that, and the second one was more of a gut feeling. I know that Palma is a very good player, and quite often those players back themselves to do it again and go that same way. Luckily, I got it right and was able to save the second as well.”
Scoring from 12 yards has proven to be an issue for Celtic this campaign, which has prompted Rodgers to indicate that someone else could be given the chance to step up after Palma fluffed his lines.
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