Former Norwich City striker Simeon Jackson has found himself making headlines for all the wrong reasons this morning, after being blasted for a ‘crazy’ attempt at a chipped penalty which proved costly for St Mirren.
The Canadian international – who scored the goal which sealed promotion to the Premier League for Norwich in 2011 – has the opportunity to put his team 1-0 up from the spot in the ninth minute at St Johnstone last night.
But his attempt at a ‘panenka’ penalty was weak and easily saved by the legs of the home goalkeeper, with St Johnstone then scoring the game’s deciding goal four minutes later.
“Why he risked it at this stage of the season, I don’t know,” annoyed St Mirren boss Oran Kearney told the BBC.
“We spoke before the game about the magnitude of the games and the pressure to make good decisions. And I said it again to him in there as he’s a big enough boy to take it.
“If we’re 3-0 up in the first game of the season with 10 minutes to and he tries something like that, you can accept it. But where we are and how the goal would have been for us, it’s crazy.”
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The 1-0 defeat leaves the Saints a point adrift of Dundee at the foot of the Scottish Premiership table, who they play on Saturday.
Jackson, now aged 32, has scored five goals in 25 matches so far this season and has come in for widespread criticism for his decision to chip the penalty.
Former St Johnstone midfielder Allan Preston told BBC Radio Scotland: “That’s the worst penalty I’ve seen live. I’m not even sure it would have reached the net. If I was Oran Kearney, I’d be going crazy at him.
“I’ve been in changing rooms where, when he walked in at half-time, he’d get a knock in the face. There’s people’s livelihoods at stake here and he’s trying to be smart and clever and trying to dink the goalkeeper. It’s a disgrace. If they get relegated by a point, that’ll haunt them. It was absolutely crazy.”
City signed Jackson for around £600,000 from Gillingham in 2010 and the speedy striker proved popular with fans, scoring 21 goals in 85 games before leaving in 2013 – with his burst of nine goals in eight games at the end of 2010-11 the pinnacle of his spell.
He’s since gone on to play for a host of clubs including Millwall, Coventry, Blackburn and Walsall, joining St Mirren in September of last year.
• You can remind yourself of one of Jackson’s finest moments for Norwich, his chaotic winner against Derby in 2011, in the video above
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