Poor old Danylo Sikan.
He won't want to, but the Shakhtar Donetsk forward will inevitably see reruns of his incredible miss against Celtic for the years to come as he shoots to the top of every list of sitters compiled, to be shown on bloopers shows and YouTube ‘highlight’ reels after somehow managing not to score, meaning his team left Glasgow with a 1-1 draw rather than the likely 2-1 win he would have put them on course for.
Mykhaylo Mudryk did all the hard work for him. Shakhtar’s Ukrainian flying machine showed his incredible pace to beat Cameron Carter-Vickers to the ball in the left hand side as the visitors broke ominously. The American is no slouch, but just couldn’t keep up as Mudryk put on the afterburners. His teammates anticipated this and were ready in the middle as the number 10 unselfishly squared for what should have seen an easy tap-in.
What came next is the stuff of strikers' nightmares. Sikan had an open goal in the truest sense of the phrase. Joe Hart had accepted the inevitable. He had space and crucially, he had time. Maybe that was the problem.
Rather than simply rolling the ball into the net, Sikan thought about his options. He could have taken a touch just to make sure, then tapped it in. You saw what was going on in his brain translate to his feet with disastrous consequences. He knew he could do either and instead, he did neither, not quite taking a touch and not quite just guiding it home first time.
Instead, what we saw was some sort of hybrid. That resulted in the ball clumsily bouncing past the post in an action that was neither shot nor control, which made the miss look even worse in the end.
It’s been described as the worst ever and it’s hard to argue. However, Scottish football has thrown up some shockers over the years and Record Sport has taken a look back to see how they compare to Silkan’s.
Peter van Vossen, Celtic 0 Rangers 1, November 1996
You know it’s bad when other misses are named after it. Following the Rangers forward’s incredible Old Firm sitter at Celtic Park (the same end as Silkan) in 1996, passing up an open goal became known as ‘doing a van Vossen’.
No wonder. With seven minutes left and Rangers leading 1-0, Celtic try and spring the offside trap, but get it horribly wrong. Van Vossen dinks a ball in behind for Jorg Albertz then continues his run as the pair of them bear down on Stewart Kerr. Unselfishly, Albertz squares the ball to take Kerr out of the equation and it’s surely 2-0 when van Vossen rolls home.
Except he doesn’t. The Dutchman lent back and skied his close range effort, prompting quite the reaction from the majority inside Parkhead. Luckily it didn’t come back to haunt the Gers, who saw out the victory, but it followed van Vossen for the rest of his career.
Didier Agathe, Hearts 0 Hibs 0, July 2000
An Edinburgh derby to start the 2000/01 top flight season and it finished goalless. Quite how it didn’t only Didier Agathe can answer.
Then used as a striker by Hibs, the pacey Frenchman would go on to score four goals in his next two games, persuading Celtic to eventually nip in and sign him on the cheap, having only penned a short-term dela at Easter Road. After this miss, the Hibees may have been thanking their lucky stars they didn’t have him tied down.
After outmuscling Steven Pressley and sending the Hearts defender to the deck, Agathe stayed composed to round Antti Niemi and the away end rose to celebrate the opening goal. However, Agathe chose to poke the ball goalwards with the outside of his right boot rather than passing it in with his left.
That saw the ball trundle towards the far corner. It was all the encouragement Thomas Flogel needed, and fair play to the Austrian for getting back to clear. The ball appeared to be going in, just very slowly. It was celebrated like a goal by the majority inside Tynecastle and proved to be the best chance of an otherwise forgettable derby. Afterwards, Agathe blamed the length of the grass, but that didn’t quite cut it as an excuse.
Chris Iwelumo, Scotland 0 Norway 0, November 2008
Like Van Vossen, the Scotland striker is still known for his miss, despite a decent career as a player and a promising one as a pundit. That he did it for his country in a World Cup qualifier at Hampden means he’s never going to escape it.
Scott Brown held the ball up in the corner before picking out Gary Naysmith’s surging run into the box. The left back took a touch before delivering a low ball across the six yard box. All it needed was a touch and Scotland were 1-0 up.
It got a touch, but the net didn’t ripple. Hampden took a beat to work out what had happened, with the Sky Sports commentators even reacting as if Scotland had scored until it dawned on them the ball had gone wide. Iwelumo attempted to side foot into the empty net from a handful of yards, but didn’t open his body. That resulted in the ball going straight in the direction he was facing, taking it pass the post and leading to the famous photo from the opposite angle, showing Iwelumo opened mouthed as he watches his effort fly past.
Giorgos Samaras, Hearts 2 Celtic, December 2009
Had slightly more to do than others in this list when faced with an open goal, but that’s being kind. Celtic were at Tynecastle in a pre-Christmas fixture under Tony Mowbray and despite the Greek striker giving them the lead, they were locked at one each after Gary Caldwell was sent off for hauling down Jamie Mole and Michael Stewart levelled from the spot.
After the break, Samaras should have scored his and Celtic’s second. Jose Goncalves attempted to shepherd the ball out for a goal kick, which was something of his signature move. Scott McDonald had other ideas though, and robbed the Swiss defender before cutting back for Samaras, leaving Marian Kello stranded.
There were two Hearts defenders attempting to cover in the middle, but it remained an open goal for Samaras, who just had to hit the target. Instead, he leaned back and sent his attempt high over the bar into the disbelieving Celtic fans. It proved costly too, as Ismael Bouzid headed in a later winner to ensure the points remained in Edinburgh.
Barrie McKay, Kilmarnock 2 Hearts 2, October 2022
One from this season, and there’s been more than one over over the last few weeks. Barrie McKay must have thought he had miss of the season sewn up when he skied an early chance at Rugby Park, however.
Hearts should have taken the lead in Ayrshire after their first attack. Lawrence Shankland was released in behind the Killie defence and had options in the middle. Robert Snodgrass could have finished, but left it for McKay. The winger got it all wrong though, leaning back and lifting a side-footed effort over the bar with the goal gaping.
The hosts took a second half lead through Chris Stokes before Kyle Lafferty pounced on a clumsy Craig Gordon error. However, his amd McKay’s blushes were spared after Stephen Humphrys pulled one back, allowing Nathaniel Atkinson to snatch a point with the final kick of the game.
Alex Cochrane, Aberdeen 2 Hearts 0, October 2022
A week later and Hearts were at it again. This time though, there would be no late reprieve to get them out of jail.
An open first half at Pittodrie saw both sides spurn good chances. But Alex Cochrane’s was the best of the lot.
Humphrys took a quick throw into Shankland on the right before bursting into the box for the return. Shankland obliged, and his strike partner fired a low ball across goal for the completely unmarked Cochrane at the back post.
All he needed was a decent connection to make it 1-0. Instead, and much like Sikan, he neither shot nor took a touch. The result was the ball tamely rolling into the arms of the grateful Kelle Roos.
The Dons took full advantage of his wastefulness. Second half goals from Luis Lopes and Vicente Besuijen won them all three points from a game that both sides created enough chances to win.
Aaron Mooy, Hearts 3 Celtic 4, October 2022
October has been the month for missing sitters in the Scottish Premiership. After two in a row by Hearts, it was their turn to be the relieved team after Aaron Mooy’s for Celtic.
The Jambos had just taken a 2-1 lead after half-time. James Forrest’s header was cancelled out by a Shankland penalty, and the striker slid his side into the lead in the second half.
The Hoops should have been back level soon after, but Mooy fluffed his lines. Reo Hatate’s ball in from the right was very cleverly flicked on by Daizen Maeda, taking the Hearts defence out of the game and left Mooy stepping onto the ball, 12 yards out, with only Craig Gordon to beat.
The Celtic fans behind the goal were celebrating as the ball flew wide of the left-hand post, with those on the other side of Gordon’s goal gleefully celebrating. It didn’t last long though as Giorgos Giakoumakis headed the visitors level before Maeda made it 3-2.
A retaken Shankland penalty saw Hearts level again. But Greg Taylor had the last word, tapping in a late winner for Ange Postecoglou’s men.
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