“FIR PARK is twisting, shaking, shouting.” So goes the famous commentary of Motherwell’s opening goal in the second-leg of the Premiership play-off final against Rangers in 2016. The ball had looped in the air from Marvin Johnson’s deflected strike and came spinning towards Cammy Bell in the Rangers goal. After much twisting, shaking and shouting from the ‘keeper, it somehow ended in the back of the net.

Goalkeeping is often referred to as the loneliest job in football. When, as Bell did that day in Lanarkshire, the number one makes a clanging error that leads to a goal, that oxymoronic juxtaposition of someone surrounded by thousands of other people but seeming utterly alone is brutally laid bare.

It is the aftermath though, when the glaring, judgmental spotlight fades, that can be the most tortuous for a goalkeeper to face. A reputation can be torn asunder in one critical lapse, while outfield players enjoy the luxury of knowing that their errors can be rescued by teammates behind them. Very often, by their goalkeeper.

For those between the sticks though, perhaps the only succour they can take is that it happens to the best of them, as this year’s Champions League final and World Cup proved.

That is why there is little hesitation in Bell’s voice as he ponders the question of what the main quality is that allowed him to bounce back from adversity and enjoy such a long and impressive career in the professional game in Scotland.

“Mental strength is definitely the key,” Bell replies without missing a beat. “The mental side of the game is probably the biggest part of goalkeeping.

“If you make a mistake, it’s in the back of the net, and it is hugely highlighted. Goalkeepers are massively criticised as well. From the outside, everything looks easy.

“You have to be mentally strong, and I’ve learned that over the years. I can handle different situations through the experiences I’ve had in my career.

“Mistakes happen at the top level, just look at Loris Karius, or at the World Cup with David De Gea or Hugo Lloris, who made a huge error in the final. He got away with it because his team won, but it shows you that it can happen to anyone.

“As goalkeepers, you know you are wide open to that scrutiny and criticism. At the end of the day, everybody makes errors.

“I remember after the one against Motherwell I got widely criticised, and I had to hold my hands up. I made an error, and it was difficult to deal with. On reflection, I don’t think it had a huge bearing on the tie. At the end of the day, we lost 6-1. But you don’t think like that at the time.”

If that was the biggest test of Bell’s character in his career, then last season wasn’t far behind. Cast in the purgatorial role of back-up goalkeeper, first at Kilmarnock and then at Hibernian, he was resigned for the most part to a long season of training all week for the task of hitting a few shots at a colleague in the warm-up.

Now though, as he embarks on yet another new adventure with Partick Thistle – the seventh Scottish club he has represented – the juices are flowing again, and he is certain that there are good times ahead on a personal level and for the Firhill club as a whole.

“It was a strange sort of time for me last season,” he said. “I was at two clubs where there were established first-team goalies. It was tough to dislodge them, because they were both having good seasons.

“It is difficult when you’re not playing. For me, I’d rather be playing every week and be in the firing line. I just enjoy playing football on a Saturday, it was what I always wanted to do, so that was a huge part of my decision to come to Thistle in the summer.

“It’s good for me to be at a club now with a manager that really wanted me and wanted to make me his number one. Hopefully I can repay him.”

Bell is a subscriber to the theory that there is no gain without a little pain, and it is these experiences that he thinks have led him to being the most rounded goalkeeper he has ever been at the age of 31.

“I think I’m coming into the prime of my career because I have that experience now,” he said.

“Look at Allan McGregor, who is someone I’ve always looked up to. He was a top-class goalkeeper, and still is at 36. I think he’s in the prime of his career because he’s got all the experience in the world, he hasn’t lost any sharpness, and he’s not lost any speed in his game. I think he’ll really flourish back at Rangers again.

“For me, I want to be successful for Partick Thistle, and the end goal for me is to get the club back in the Premiership and play for them in the top-flight the season after.

“We know it’s going to be difficult, the league is very strong this year with five or six teams who will think they can get promoted.

“But we’re definitely in the mix and we are one of the teams who will be looking to get up.”