WHAT a difference a year has made for Viljami Sinisalo.
The Celtic goalkeeper will take to the field to face St Johnstone in front of a bumper crowd in one of the biggest matches of his career to date at Hampden Park tomorrow afternoon – the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup semi-final.
Exactly 12 months ago, he was lining up for English third tier minnows Exeter City in their League 1 relegation dogfight with Northampton Town at the 8,000 capacity Sixfields Stadium.
“It's been a big year for myself,” he said. “I remember that game. We won 2-1 after going a man down and it kind of secured our safety in the league that day. Fast forward to where I am now, the football club that I'm now part of, it's probably something I'd say is surreal in a way.
“But, listen, I'm just trying to take it in as we go. I'm enjoying every minute, I'm enjoying every day I come in. This opportunity of playing has been great for me, I've loved it. The more you play, the better you get, that's what I'm a big believer in. It's been a great start.”
The Finland internationalist knows that being involved in that nerve-wracking encounter with Exeter, where he spent a season on loan from Aston Villa, will prove to be invaluable in the semi-final against a St Johnstone side which ran out 1-0 winners over Celtic in the Premiership earlier this month.
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"Listen, it's all these experiences that you take through in your career,” he said. “Obviously, I've been at football clubs before where you're scrapping for relegation and you're really fighting for your life. It's a different type of pressure to now trying to win things.
“But it's all about learning as a young goalkeeper. These are the learning experiences you need. Everyone always talks about the importance of going on loan and playing football games that really matter, where really big things are on the line, relegation or winning leagues. It's something you definitely learn from.
“I've said previously I'm my biggest critic myself and I'm coming in every day to be better than I was the day before. So, yeah, that's the aim. I'll take all the experiences I've had previously and try to be better from each one of them.”
Sinisalo found himself up against Kieron Bowie, the Hibernian striker whose form for the Easter Road club this season has seen him tipped to earn a Scotland call-up, that afternoon as Exeter battled with Northampton. But he kept the forward and his team mates at bay and the visitors snatched a late winner. The 90 minutes remain etched in his memory.
"It's probably a different type of game than what you get in most games here at Celtic,” he said. “But it's one of them. You've got to take what you can from all these things. All these experiences make you the keeper you want to be one day. So I'm trying to very much do that.”
Sinisalo, who has impressed onlookers with his mature displays between the sticks since Kasper Schmiechel was sidelined by injury last month, made an unexpected appearance at Hampden following that outing. He replaced Jesse Joronen at half-time as Finland took on Scotland in a friendly in June.
The 23-year-old is hoping that his outing in Mount Florida tomorrow afternoon is a little less eventful.
“Scotland go 2-0 up quite early doors. I was thinking, ‘I've just come on here and I've conceded two!’. But we managed to obviously get a decent result then, a 2-2 draw. I made a few decent saves towards the end. Yes, I've got fond memories of Hampden. I loved playing there.
“Obviously, I've been on the bench the two times we've played there previously this season (in the Premier Sports Cup semi-final and final last year) and now obviously I've got a chance to put the jersey on there myself. So I'm very much looking forward to that. I'm very much relishing that opportunity.”
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Joe Hart, Sinisalo’s predecessor as Celtic goalkeeper, had an eventful Scottish Cup semi-final against Aberdeen last year. The former England internationalist missed a penalty in the shootout after the match had finished 3-3 after extra-time. But he then saved the decisive spot kick from Killian Phillips.
The current No 1 will have no qualms about trying his luck from 12 yards should the occasion demand it – but he is more interested in keeping the ball out of his net than scoring and his confident in his abilities.
"I watch a lot of football and I watched that game actually,” he said. “I know how Harty missed and then went on to save the penalty. So you go from a huge down to being the hero about 30 seconds later.
“Listen, if I have to take a penalty, I'll take a penalty. I'm sure there'll be lads taking it before me, but I'll try and stick to saving them. If it comes to it, I'll take it. But we'll see if we get to that.”
"It's really important. It's something you can do to bail your team out. We do so much work with the goalkeeper coaches on it, especially here with Woodsy (Celtic goalkeeping coach Stevie).
“But it goes the other way as well. Attackers know that keepers are thinking about it. It's a bit of a mind game. But if I have to save some, I'll do my best to try and do so.”
