SPOTTY TRAINED
Clark used to get slaughtered for not saving penalties but now he’s started he can’t stop
It was plaudits heading his way at Dens Park after he denied Charlie Adam with a brilliant stop from 12 yards to help St Johnstone into the last 16 of the Scottish Cup.
The Saints keeper was the hero in the quarter-final of the Betfred Cup with two penalty saves against Dunfermline en route to his side winning the first silverware of the season.
He’s hoping Saturday’s spot kick heroics - which came after Guy Melamed had scored the only goal of the game - can be an omen for the Perth men in their hunt for an incredible double.
He said: “It would be nice! My brother and my dad used to cane me for not saving penalties when I was younger.
“It used to be that if it was a penalty you knew it would be a goal because I was hopeless at saving them.
“I don’t know what it is but something has changed.
“The odds are heavily stacked against you but you have to believe that you’ll save it. Maybe I’m just getting more lucky.
“Charlie’s taken a few in the past which I’ve had a look at.
“But you can watch as many as you want – somebody can hit 25 in a row one way and then put it in a different direction and there’s nothing you can do.
“I tried to wait as long as I could and hope he’d go back to that one where he tries to whip it to the goalie’s left.”
Clark enjoyed an eventful afternoon at Dens. Perhaps he felt it was his duty to deny Adam having been the Saint who was a sinner in the 70th-minute award of the spot kick after wiping out Danny Mullen as they contested a high ball.
It was a borderline decision by ref Craig Napier who had 15 minutes earlier rescued Clark by chalking off Mullen’s tap in after the keeper had dropped a cross.
The ref deemed that one offside after consulting with his
assistant, much to the fury of Dundee boss James McPake.
On the penalty decision, Clark said: “I thought I got enough of the ball. I was fully committed.
“The referee had given one for me before and that’s probably one of the reasons I didn’t protest.
“It was then about me being ready for the penalty. You want to redeem yourself straight away.”
Incredibly this was St Johnstone’s first ever Scottish Cup victory at Dens Park having lost all four of their previous encounters.
Melamed struck the only goal after 20 minutes when Stevie May raced on to Liam Gordon’s clearance and cut back for the Israeli to slot home.
Adam went close with a 25-yard strike while Paul McMullan rattled Clark’s crossbar with a dipping effort from distance.
The real flashpoint arrived five minutes into the second half when Clark dropped McMullan’s cross right at the feet of Mullen who rolled it into the empty net.
After conferring with his assistant, ref Napier awarded a free kick with Mullen appearing to have been offside when the initial cross was delivered.
McPake was booked for his protests and his frustration wouldn’t have been helped when Adam blew the chance to level from the spot.
Saints held on to take their place in the last 16 but asked if clubs would be keen to avoid them, Clark said: “Maybe, when you look at the form we’ve been in and winning the Betfred.
“I don’t know. A lot of folk seem to still look at St Johnstone as the wee diddy team and there will still be folk who say that.
“At the start of the season when we were on a poor run we were losing these type of games.
“As a defensive unit, a team and a squad we knew that we had to make ourselves harder to beat.”
Dundee veteran Adam had stoked the flames before kick-off by claiming this Tayside clash was no derby.
Clark said: “They can class whatever they want as their derby.
“It would have been nice to have been in front of our fans because they would have had a lot to shout about.
“I hope a lot of them enjoyed watching it in the house although I’m sure there will be a few who begrudge giving their money to Dundee TV!”