It takes nerve to step up and take a penalty in a big match against Celtic. It takes real cojones to step up and slot home a retake after your first effort has been saved.
Ronan Hale is clearly made of stern stuff, though, with the Ross County striker doing precisely that to give the Staggies a shock lead against the champions on Sunday, and ultimately to within quarter of an hour or so of earning an unlikely win.
Alas, Celtic managed to turn the game around in the closing stages, leaving Hale and his teammates gutted after the effort they had expended into frustrating their opponents on the day.
It is a day though that Hale – as Brendan Rodgers pointed out after the match, a boyhood Celtic fan – will long remember though for his opening goal, despite the best efforts both fair and foul of Kasper Schmeichel to put him off.
The Danish internationalist was caught on camera raking his studs over the penalty spot before Hale placed the ball, making it somewhat ironic that it was the VAR cameras that rendered his initial save meaningless after being spotted springing from his line too early.
“Obviously there were some mind games going on, he was just talking about where I was going to put it and stuff,” Hale said.
“He guessed right the first time but the second time I think he just stood in the middle and it's gone in the corner. So, thank God he did.
“It's a 50-50 chance he can get his hand on it or it's going in. Thankfully the second time around I did it.
“I don't know who did it [to the penalty spot] but there was a lot of kicking around and there was a divot beside it. It was just all about getting a clean connection.”
The relief when Hale’s second effort found the bottom corner was evident in his celebration.
“Of course,” he said.
“Obviously, it's not nice to miss. Once I'd seen the opportunity that he was giving another one, there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to take it. Luckily, I scored it.
“I was just focused on getting a clean connection. I sidefooted the first one and I just thought there was no doubt in my mind that I'd try and get as much power on it as I could.
“Josh (Nisbet) was just saying, listen, concentrate and get your head down on the ball. There was no doubt in my mind that I was going to take it again.
“It was more for my own self-belief that I needed to take it and thank God it went in.”
Read more:
-
Kuhn fires Champions League warning as Celtic ready to show their 'real face'
-
Rodgers must do better, but Celtic and Scottish football are stuck in limbo
Self-belief doesn’t seem to have been something Hale has lacked since he made the summer move to Dingwall from Cliftonville, taking to Scottish football like the proverbial duck to water.
His penalty against Celtic followed up a stunning strike against Hearts at Tynecastle, and was his seventh goal all told since joining County, with his league tally now standing at four in eight appearances.
“For strikers, obviously scoring, it's all about confidence,” he said.
“Luckily, the last three games I've scored but it's more about my overall play. I think it's improving since I've come here and I'm linking up play with a lot of the team.
“We've got a good connection around the boys. It was a tough day [against Celtic], but we'll bounce back.
“I just love scoring goals. Obviously, scoring on Sunday breeds confidence.”
A first international cap in the current round of fixtures would have been the perfect way to cap off a very decent few months for Hale, then, but with red tape still holding up his switch of allegiance to Northern Ireland from the Republic of Ireland, the Belfast-born striker will have to wait for that particular honour.
“What I've heard is that it's still with FIFA at the moment,” he said.
“I don't know how long the process takes but listen it's kind of good in a way that I've got to focus on my Ross County career. I'm playing with a smile on my face and enjoying scoring goals so long may it continue.
“It's been out there that I've switched. Obviously it's more about getting the ball rolling and seeing where it goes.
“But at the moment I'm just really focused on Ross County and the international is a bonus.”
