Liam Kelly explains Celtic penalty save as Motherwell goalkeeper offers Luis Palma insight

Kelly saved one and conceded one as Motherwell conceded two penalties at Celtic Park on Saturday

Motherwell players surround Liam Kelly after his penalty save from Celtic's Luis Palma. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

Liam Kelly was delighted to play his part with a crucial penalty save as Motherwell left Celtic Park with a valuable point.

The Scotland squad goalkeeper faced two spot-kicks in the second-half, blocking Luis Palma's effort with a brilliant dive before being outfoxed by former Fir Park midfielder David Turnbull from 12 yards in the 86th minute.

An injury-time equaliser from Jonathan Obika ensured Kelly's first save from Palma was not in vain, and the 27-year-old revealed that he had studied the Honduras international’s penalty technique before deciding which way to dive.

“People don’t like to say what they do when it comes to penalties, but I’m not that kind of guy," he said. “He went to the right with his last four, but there’s always a moment where they change, which is what I was thinking.

“He has hit a few good ones into some right good goalies before, he scored one late into [Aberdeen's] Kelle Roos a couple of weeks ago. Roos went to that side, so I thought he would back himself irrelevant to what I do, so that’s why I stuck to the side he normally goes.

“Some people will go four one way and then they will choose their moment to change their side, but I thought he would stick to it. I’m glad he never changed to be honest, because otherwise I would have had no chance."

Kelly opted to stay in the middle of his goal for Turnbull's spot-kick but his Scotland squad-mate stuck it in the corner.

“I thought Davie might have gone down the middle just because of the pressure of the penalty, but I watched that back on the screen when they were celebrating and it was a right good penalty, so I probably wouldn’t have had much chance with that.”

The result was a timely boost for the Steelmen after a recent poor run of just two points from the last 27 available.

"I have been through this with Motherwell several times before and you just need to stick at it,” Kelly added. “There have never been any doubts or people thinking what is going on, you just try to find solutions.

“There is so much belief in the manager and the staff and they have shown why because the structure and organisation we have is absolutely brilliant we just have to recycle that into playing well again."