SCOTT McDonald insists he will continue to take Celtic's penalties despite missing from the spot during last Wednesday's 2-1 victory over Rangers.
The little Australian realises that if the game had finished all square then he would have been blamed for the loss of the championship as a result of his miss midway through the second half.
McDonald atoned for the miss in the 94th minute of wha
t may yet prove to be the pivotal match when he nodded the ball across the six-yard box for Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink to net the winner.
"We all knew that if we didn't beat Rangers the other night then we'd be saying goodbye to the title," McDonald said. "To say that we're right back in it is, I think, an overstatement, but at least we're still breathing. We had deserved to win and, having missed the penalty, I knew that was going to be highlighted because it looked at 1-1 as though the game was finished.
"So, yeah, of course I was relieved that we got a winner, especially since I played a part in it. But I'll definitely take the next one. I'm not afraid. If you can take one in front of 60,000 people when the league's on the line then why not take another one?"
McDonald, meanwhile, could find himself playing through the summer with only two weeks off before reporting back for pre-season training due to his World Cup commitments. "Australia have four ties coming up between June 1-22," he explained. "We play Iraq at home and the away tie is in Dubai. Then there's Qatar away and China at home. Hopefully, we can qualify early doors and I won't need to play in all four of them. That way I can get a holiday.
"It's quite a busy schedule (Australia also play Ghana in a friendly] but I'm the kind of guy who can't take too much time off anyway. The way I am physically I need to keep on top of things so it won't harm me too much. In any case, there will be plenty of rest time between matches."
The full article contains 372 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
