Luis Palma missed two penalties in quick succession on Saturday afternoon. After Callum McGregor was brought down in the box, referee Euan Anderson pointed to the spot, and the Honduran winger stepped up.
Hitting the ball to the bottom-left, Palma’s effort was initially saved by Ross County’s ‘keeper George Wickens. VAR then intervened and found that a few County players had encroached on the box, and a retake was ordered.
The second time around, Palma was equally as eager to take the spot-kick, but he went the same way and was again denied by the debutant.
This left many of the home supporters frustrated, and rightly so. For a professional player to fail to score from twelve yards twice in a row is quite shocking.
Palma is fortunate that his misses weren’t costly and that his team held out to secure the narrow win. This doesn’t get away from the fact he should be netting from the spot, especially from two attempts.
Nothing should be taken away from Wickens, though, who was heroic. Indeed, after the game, the Fulham loanee admitted he had done some work pre-match on Celtic’s penalties, but that his second save was down to sheer chance: “I think we always just speak about percentages”, he said (Glasgow Times).
“The first one (save) 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.”
