woodchip horror

[annie7]

I need to disguise repairs to a woodchip papered ceiling. The repair was to fill in old 70's giant light fittings. I dont want to remove paper as ceiling will probably fall down. Can i just use a textured paint without the special brush ie a thick paint. I dont mind a bit of texture showing through. I was warned not to use Polycell smoothover so the sales guy gave me Polycell textured ceilings matt ripple.
Is it worth a try?