DAN Twardzik had an unsuccessful trial at Celtic as a teenager, but the Motherwell goalkeeper has succeeded in putting the Parkhead side to the test this season, writes Stewart Fisher.
The Lanarkshire side travel to Glasgow's east end on league duty in midweek, having earned a 1-1 draw there in September, the only breach of Twardzik's goal coming from a disputed Kris Commons penalty.
Motherwell would have achieved the same scoreline in the game at Fir Park in December had a Lee Erwin header dropped the other side of a post.
After a bright start to Ian Baraclough's reign, an error by Twardzik was partly to blame in the 4-1 collapse at Dens Park last Saturday, and the 23-year-old Czech, whose father Rene was also a goalkeeper, knows such mis-steps must be banished from his mind.
"Even the best goalkeepers make mistakes," Twardzik said. "The biggest thing is how you deal with it. It can get you down, but you have to come back stronger. My dad was also a keeper and he said to me: 'It's done, there's nothing you can do about it'. So I have to keep my head up, keep working and hopefully I can put it behind me."
Twardzik's brother Filip is still at Celtic, although the 21-year-old's twin Patrik has left the club. "It's always great to play at Celtic Park and I'm looking forward to it," said the oldest of the Twardzik clan. "It will be a hard game but we've dealt with them really well this season so far. We lost 1-0 at home, but got a 1-1 draw away, even that was through a penalty that never was, in my opinion."
Twardzik added: "I was at Celtic on trial a couple of years ago. I wanted to move away from Bayern and because my brothers were there, the same agent got me a trial. I quite liked it, but it didn't happen for me so I went back to Bayern before joining Karlshruhe.
"If we can get something next week, it would be great for our morale. Hamilton beat them at Celtic Park so why can't we?"
l Dan Twardzik was speaking at the launch of the Topps SPFL Sticker Collection 2015
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