Mickey Weir: Kevin Nisbet needs to live with criticism - but celebration protest wasn't a big deal

Personally I think a little too much has been made of Kevin Nisbet's goal celebration against Cove Rangers. It's just part of football.

The striker, after netting the only goal of the game in the Scottish Cup win at Easter Road, put his fingers in his ears, which seemed to suggest a protest against some of the criticism he's been taking recently.

As a player you can get caught up in the moment and let your emotions get the better of you for just a few minutes, because players thrive on their emotions, but it sticks in the minds of fans for a bit longer.

Kevin needs not to be too caught out by the criticism, because every player will take criticism at some point in their career. You just have to deal with it and get on with it. I've been in the game a long time and there's no player, certainly none I've come across, who've got through their entire career without getting criticism at some point.

Kevin Nisbet celebrates after scoring against Cove Rangers in the Scottish Cup. Picture: SNS

The best remedy is to work hard. That's what coaches always told me. The best way to get through a bad spell is just to work harder and your game will come back to you.

The whole team will be disappointed with their performance against Cove, but in the Scottish Cup it's all about making it through. Nobody will look back and say 'that was a bad game against Cove' if you go on to do really well in the competition.

Nisbet's early chance at Celtic Park in the 2-0 defeat is one where you'd expect him to score. I think he's going through one of those spells as a striker where the confidence just isn't there to do the simple thing. Every striker goes through that but the key is to just keep getting in there and eventually it will turn for you.

I won't blame him, though. As a striker you need to be willing to get in there and get the chances, and therefore willing to miss them as well, because that's just the way football is.

If he gets his form back then everything will look after itself.

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