Jack Hamilton wasn't even certain to be included in the Ross County squad to face Celtic last weekend after battling an illness all week, manager Don Cowie has confirmed.

Ross County's back-up goalkeeper had missed several training sessions throughout the build up to the huge Scottish Premiership away clash and didn't even travel with the team. 

But in a dramatic turn of events, he was named among the substitutes with Cowie clearly not expecting to have to call on the 30-year-old shot-stopper. 

What would then occur arguably wasn't in the script. 

Ross County found themselves 5-0 down at Celtic Park as the hosts ran rampant in an exhilarating first half performance. 

Regular goalkeeper Ross Laidlaw went on to suffer an injury and it meant that Hamilton would have to get his gloves on and hope to prevent a more damaging scoreline come full-time.

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The former Heart of Midlothian, Dundee and Greenock Morton star done exactly that by keeping a clean sheet during the second half, making several key saves in the process.

“It was an excellent performance," said Cowie. "Jack had not been with the group for the past two or three days, he had been ill, so he only came straight to the ground on Saturday.

“He wasn’t in the hotel on Friday night, he wasn’t there for a pre-match. He just came to meet us because he had been feeling unwell.

“He had to be thrown in that situation. Great credit to him – I thought he performed very well.”