Scottish Gas I was doing a Moonwalk during the shootout! I must have aged 10 yrs but when the pressure was on, our big characters stepped up

Taylor jokes penalties in Cup thriller os had him moving like Michael Jackson

- MICHEAL GANNON

GREG TAYLOR joked he was doing Michael Jackson's Moonwalk when it came to the shoot-out in Saturday's Scottish Cup Thriller.

But the Celtic ace is serious when he says the big characters in the Hoops dressing room won't be taking a backwards step in the race to the Premiership finishing line.

Taylor knows there was relief around the National Stadium at the weekend. Relief to get through an epic semi-clash against an Aberdeen side that played out of their skins.

And relief he managed to avoid the colossal stress of taking a sudden-death strike in that wild shoot-out.

Celtic survived a scare to keep the Scottish Cup dream on track and Taylor is convinced the eventual victory just proved this side have the chops to cope with whatever drama is coming their way in the remaining five league clashes.

The Scotland full-back said: "It was Cameron [CarterVickers] then me in the shoot-out. I was down there near the bottom.

"It is nerve-wracking. When we took penalties during the week the standard was high.

"I had actually scored a couple and felt confident. It is just the pressure of the situation.

"You know what is on the line and you care so much.

"You want to take the penalty but I was doing the Moonwalk out there!

"I was grateful that a few others stepped forward. We have some big characters in the team. That can never be questioned. It was even shown in the penalty shoot-out. All the boys stepped up."

It took a few days for the dust to settle at Lennoxtown but it was quickly back to business.