MATT O’RILEY swept in his sixteenth goal of the season in Celtic’s crucial 2-1 win over their Ibrox rivals at Parkhead yesterday.
But the champions’ midfield maestro squandered the opportunity to add to his tally when he fluffed a penalty-kick early in the second-half which would have restored his team’s two-goal advantage.
O’Riley didn’t attempt to hide behind any lame soccer jargon after Jack Butland pushed away his tame effort which he termed “pretty sh*t”.
HIT…Matt O’Riley (extreme left) watches his low shot leave Jack Butland helpless for Celtic’s opener.
MISS…Matt O’Riley sees Jack Butland push away his feeble penalty-kick attempt.
The Danish international playmaker won the spot-kick award from Willie Collum after having his heels clipped by Mohamed Diomande in the 51st minute.
There was a delay of three minutes after VAR official instructed the onfield referee to review the incident on his touchline monitor. The whistler stuck to his original decision and pointed once again to the spot.
O’Riley had netted in the Scottish Cup semi-final penalty-kick shoot-out triumph over Aberdeen last month as well as in the 3-3 draw at Ibrox and last weekend’s 3-0 triumph over Hearts.
However, he made a mess of his attempt on this occasion and, speaking to Sky Sports, admitted: “It was a pretty sh*t penalty, to be honest. I thought about it too much.
“I practised it yesterday and probably just got caught in two minds when I was over it. More to learn from – I won’t do that again!
OH NO…Matt O’Riley can’t bear to look after his penalty-kick blunder.
OH YES…Matt O’Riley celebrates in front of the Celtic fans after his Man of the Match award.
“I had a plan and was waiting for him [Butland] to move. He stayed put a long time. yeah, I probably just needed to have slightly bigger balls than I did.”
Thankfully, O’Riley’s precision was a lot more accurate when he fired the hosts into the lead 10 minutes from the interval.
He added: “I had a couple of shots before which were close. So, I felt good in and around the box.
“We work on that in training and it was a good time to score.
“I found that bit of space and I trust myself in those areas.”
The victory leaves Celtic on the cusp of their twelfth title in 13 years with a six-point advantage with two games to play.
Rodgers takes his kings-in-waiting to Rugby Park where they have lost twice this season against Kilmarnock and the league curtain comes down on Saturday when St Mirren provide the opposition in Paradise.
