ON-LOAN Fulham keeper George Wickens has explained that he managed to save back-to-back penalties from Luis Palma during Ross County’s match against Celtic at Parkhead on Saturday because he had done his homework on the Honduran winger.

Wickens, who has joined County on loan until the end of the season, denied Palma after referee Euan Anderson ruled that Simon Murray had fouled Callum McGregor in the visitors’ area in the first half.

The 6ft 6in 22-year-old was shocked when the match official ordered the spot kick to be retaken after a lengthy VAR check showed that three of the Highlanders’ outfield players had been guilty of encroachment.

However, he was confident he could save from Palma for a second time and he duly did so to keep Derek Adams’ team, who had two chances to level the cinch Premiership match in injury-time, in the game.  

Wickens revealed that swotting up on the wide man with County goalkeeper coach Scott Thomson – who played in goals when Raith Rovers beat Celtic in the League Cup final in 1994 – had proved invaluable.

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“I had spoken to the goalkeeping coach about it,” he said. “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. 

The Herald: Ross County goalkeeper George Wickens“It (a penalty being retaken) has never happened to me before. I was quite confused myself because I obviously felt I was on my line, but I thought the whole VAR thing was about me. I thought there was no chance it was going to get retaken. I was on my line. 

“It was only after he blew that I realised it was players coming into the box before it was taken that was the reason. I didn’t really know what to think – I was trying to stay calm in the moment and I was able to provide in the second moment. Luckily it didn’t matter in the end.”

Wickens, who had been helpless to keep Alistair Johnston’s deflected shot out of his net in the first minute, produced a series of outstanding saves against Celtic.

He is confident County, who play bottom-placed Livingston at Almondvale tomorrow, can survive in the top flight this term if they continue to perform as well as they did at the weekend.

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“Looking at the fixtures, we have three or four games coming up that are very important for us,” he said. “We’ve just got to make sure we go into these upcoming games with the same sort of mentality as we did against Celtic. Let’s hope the results can come with the performances.”

Wickens enjoyed being on the same park as former England internationalist Joe Hart – the player he idolised and modelled his own game on when he was growing up – and revealed the Celtic goalkeeper had offered him some words of encouragement following the final whistle. 

“I tried not to think about it too much at the start of the game,” he said. “But growing up he was sort of my idol in terms of watching him for England. I watched a number of YouTube clips on him, trying to base quite a lot of my game off him. 

“To share the same pitch as him was a bit surreal. It probably hasn’t sunk in yet, but I managed to get his shirt at the end of the game which was nice. 

“He was very supportive. We are at the same agency so he is aware of my situation and just told me to come up here and show what I can do.  There were some positive words from him, which I really appreciated. It’s a good start.”