Celtic’s win over Ross County was overshadowed by a lacklustre performance. Despite the win keeping the five-point lead at the top of the table intact, the Hoops fans were still unhappy at their side’s lack of penetration.
Not helping the situation, Luis Palma missed a penalty twice. After George Wickens saved his first effort, the Honduran was ordered to retake the spot kick after encroachment by the County players.
Palma then missed the retake as the Celtic fans couldn’t believe what they were watching. But it was what the Honduran did after the second miss that apparently infuriated the Celtic fans.
What Luis Palma did to upset the Celtic fans
It wasn’t the fact he missed the penalties, it was Palma’s reaction after the failed spot kicks that made the fans angry.
This Celtic fan called Clyde Superscoreboard to explain what happened and said, “In the first half I had a bird’s eye view of both of the penalties. And I forgave the first penalty because he limped up to take it and it looked to me like the goalkeeper was off his line, so I can forgive that one.
“And that’s ultimately you know what happened. But the second one is just unforgivable. Not to take away the save from the Ross County keeper.
“But the point I want to make is after Palma missed the second penalty, he was laughing. Now I didn’t watch the TV highlights back so I don’t know but he was laughing and he just laughed his way through the next 30 seconds.
“So I don’t know from you guys as footballers’ points of view is that just nerves? Is that just embarrassment? But it did not go down well with the support.”
To be honest, there’s really no excuse to miss a penalty that has been ordered to be retaken. Getting a second bite of the cherry should have guaranteed stretching Celtic’s lead on the day but Palma fluffed his lines.
For me, laughing after the miss was probably Palma shaking his head in disbelief and there shouldn’t be anything read into it.
However, that’s five penalties that Celtic have failed to convert this season. Maybe it’s time to practice them more or change the spot kick because one of these days the next miss may well come back to haunt us.
