Zander’s plan to be brave on the ball

St Johnstone goalkeeper Zander Clark is urging his fellow team-mates to continue to be brave in possession.

Manager Tommy Wright is encouraging Perth players to play out from the back more with an emphasis placed on shifting it quickly.

Clark, who has kept three clean sheets in his opening three competitive games, realises that he needs to be alert to get the ball rolling.

Saints have been zipping the ball around nicely in the early part of the season and the McDiarmid Park stopper wants the same against Forfar.

The closing game of the Betfred Cup group takes place at Station Park on Saturday afternoon.

Clark said:“It’ll be a difficult game again and similar to Montrose. Forfar will be well-drilled and organised.

“But we just need to be brave on the ball, keep trying to move

them and find the holes where we can create.

“It’s something that you need to be brave to do. But it’s not new to me, I’ve done it at Queen of the South.

“It can be a useful way of getting the play started because you can suck people out of their places to come in and press.

“You can pick them off from there. We’re really enjoying it and hopefully we can continue being brave on the ball.”

The opening three Betfred Cup shutouts have been welcomed by Clark but he was quick to praise those in front of him.

“The strength in defence is something we’ve had for a couple of seasons with Liam Gordon and Jason Kerr coming through,”he said this week.

“They have been solid in the defence along with Joe Shaughnessy, Steven Anderson, Scott Tanser and Richard Foster. There is young Aaron Comrie and Brian Easton is still out.

“For the goalkeeper, you know whoever is out there, the backline is going to be a solid one.

“Clean sheets are always something you strive for when going into games.

“We’ve won two games 1-0 and have drawn the other 0-0 so a clean sheet is always going to get you at least a point.“

Tuesday night’s solitary goal victory against Falkirk at McDiarmid Park leaves Saints at the top of the standings heading into the final fixture.

“It’s another game where we have been dominant throughout,”Clark explained to the Perthshire Advertiser.

“Any danger that we came under was through slack bits of play from ourselves so we just need to brush up on that.

“These games are always difficult but they set you in good stead for the season.

“It’s good to have the competitiveness rather than the pre-season friendly games.

“It’s also good to build the momentum for the squad. A cup run would be great, it’s always something we try to do at the start of the season.”