Joe Hart: I'm delighted with semi-final spot-kick save

Celtic F.C.

·20 April 2024

Joe Hart: I'm delighted with semi-final spot-kick save

Joe Hart has enjoyed many highs throughout his long and illustrious career, experiencing some low points along the way as well.

And even as his time as a professional footballer draws to a close, those moments still keep coming.

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Today at Hampden (Saturday), the highs and lows of his profession came to him in the space of a few dramatic minutes.

With the Scottish Cup semi-final against Aberdeen going to penalties after the match finished 3-3 following 120 minutes of action, Hart was penciled in to take Celtic’s fifth penalty.

When he stepped up to take it, he did so in the knowledge that scoring it would put the Hoops into the final.

However, his effort hit the post, and so the shoot-out went to sudden death, and the experienced stopper then produced a superb save to deny Killian Phillips and ensure his career will finish with a cup final at Hampden on Saturday, May 25.

Speaking to Celtic TV after the dramatic game, the Celtic keeper said: “I’m supposed to be coming to the end calmly! But that was wild. It’s cup football.

“The manager said it in there that that’s way below our standard over 120 minutes, but we stuck with it and did the right things and the right times.

“I think you’ve got to give ultimate respect to Aberdeen. It’s been a difficult season for them but they came here with nothing to lose and there were moments when it felt like the flow of the game was against them but they didn’t give up.

'We didn’t defend properly and gave them a chance, and anything can happen in cup football, but at the end of the day we’re in the cup final and that’s the most important thing.'

When it came to deciding the players to take the penalties in the shoot-out, Hart was confident in his own ability to convert a spot-kick.

“I put myself forward,” he said. “I really believe in myself as a penalty taker. I work on them completely seriously, it’s something that I think, with my experience and my personality, that I’m right for those moments. I believe in what I’m doing and I have a process.

“It wasn’t right today, which was unfortunate, but I thought the other penalties were exceptional, really professional and good penalties, and eventually I saved one.

“I kept going the right way and I timed the last one nicely, and that was that. For once it worked out being a goalkeeper!”