Water bottles & gut instinct: Penalty-saving secrets revealed by ex-Nottingham Forest goalkeeper as Mark Crossley explains how he would thwart Ivan Toney & Bruno Fernandes

Crossley required no assistance in his heyday, with the former Wales international mastering the art of repelling spot-kicks. He is famously the only man to have saved a penalty from Southampton icon Matt Le Tissier, while England legend Gary Lineker was denied in the 1991 FA Cup final.

Memorable moments were also enjoyed in shootouts, with Crossley able to get inside the mind of his opponents and read where they were going to put the ball. That is quite the skill set to acquire, and one that will forever stand goalkeepers in good stead.

Asked to explain his methods, having become one of the best in the business, Crossley - speaking exclusively to GOAL while piecing together a Bally Bet All-Stars squad - said: “Back in the day, my philosophy was I want to make the penalty taker wait as long as possible because I've been trained with Stuart Pearce, Teddy Sheringham, all the great penalty takers. I used to say to them: ‘What do you want to do when you're taking the penalty?’ And the answer is simple - We want to put the ball down and we want to get the thing taken straight away’.

“So, obviously, from a goalkeeping point of view, I want to make them wait as long as possible - whether it means going to have a drink out of the water bottle, we used to have a towel in the goal, going to wipe the gloves, or maybe have a little argument with the referee with the ball not being on the spot.

“That's the only tactic and then I was a massive believer in instinct. You go off your instincts and you make your mind up right at the very last second, which way I'm going to go. Now, I was always technically better diving to my right than I was my left, so I would favour a lot of the time going to my right, which was the Le Tissier save. But the FA Cup final save, I went to my left because I just had that instinct at the last minute where I thought that's where he was going to put it.”

Many players now - such as Manchester United captain Fernandes and Al-Ahli striker Toney - delay striking the ball for as long as possible, as they wait for the keeper in front of them to flinch.

Pressed on how he would deal with those slow run-ups, Crossley added: “They do tend to have a look at you at some point. So, I'd wait for the eye contact as well and I would always feign to go one way. Whichever way I feign to go, I would always switch and go the other. And it's just all that little time and instinct.

“But as far as players running up towards the ball and the hop, skip and the jump and everything, I don't get it. I think they should just put the ball down and run up. From a goalkeeper's point of view, what do I want? I'm six foot five, I don't really want the ball on the floor in the corner. You put it mid-height and I go the right way, I've got a chance of saving it.

“So, I think they should just run up to it, make their mind of which bottom corner they're going to put it into and make sure they hit that bottom corner. There's no need for the hop, skip and jump, but they would argue differently, I suppose.”

Part of the guessing element for goalkeepers has been removed with the emergence of bottles sporting penalty plans that were drawn up before a ball was kicked. Brice Samba employed that tactic when helping Forest past Sheffield United in the 2021-22 Championship play-offs, as did Jordan Pickford at Euro 2024, while Hannah Hampton threw Spain rival Cata Coll’s drinking aid into the crowd during the 2025 Women’s European Championship final.

Crossley said when asked about new trends: “Listen, technology has gone a lot further from when I played. So, you can study a lot of things. You would have a goalkeeping coach now that would sit down with you and probably go through the penalty takers' last 10 penalties and look at his technique. 

“You can do all the research you want, but I believe that the players are that good, especially these days, that they can change their mind at the last minute anyway. I always thought Matt Le Tissier was the best ever, because he was the best striker of a ball ever. I was lucky enough to be the one that denied him, but he said to me that he did actually see me feign to go one way and at the last minute he changed his mind and he didn't get it quite right. So, I think players are that good. 

“The first time I've seen the water bottle thing was Brice Samba, against Sheffield United. I was at the game and I thought, what is he doing? And then when I've seen it, I thought, he's obviously done loads of research with his goalkeeping coach, so you have to take your hat off to that. And it worked for him and I've seen it work again since. 

“So, it's all psychological, especially in a shootout. It's a bit different with a penalty during a game. You can't go and pick the water bottle up and go, yeah, he's taken it here. Well, you can, but in a shootout, it's a little bit different when you've got to face so many penalties, one after another. Any tactic that a goalkeeper or a goalkeeping coach can use, use it.”

Nottingham Forest's front of shirt partner Bally Bet is on a mission to give long-serving grassroots players the recognition they have earned. Forest great Mark Crossley has been set the challenge of compiling the first ever All-Stars Vets squad, made up from the real characters of the game in a celebration of everything that makes grassroots great. Crossley will be ably supported by other recognisable Forest faces as he goes about assembling the Bally Bet All-Stars.

The All-Stars will then be given the full Premier League treatment, swapping the recreation grounds for the City Ground, as they turn out against a team of hand-picked Forest legends towards the end of May. Prior to that game taking place, Crossley will be refining his starting XI with the help of some familiar faces on Trentside.