Zander must get Scots call-up, says Crawford
WItH a terrific shot that bent around charlie Mulgrew before nestling in the bottom right corner of the net, ali crawford stylishly secured all three points for St Johnstone.
yet the match-winning midfielder was in no doubt as to the identity of the true hero of the hour.
Zander clark, the Saints goalkeeper, was on quite astonishing form at tannadice as United pounded the away goal.
In a close-to-perfect performance, the 29-year-old made three big saves from ryan edwards, two from Peter Pawlett and another from nicky clark.
Scotland manager Steve clarke, who names his squad to face Moldova and Denmark tomorrow, tends to prefer rangers back-up keeper Jon McLaughlin and Motherwell’s Liam kelly.
But clark could not have done much more to press his case for inclusion in next month’s World cup qualifiers.
‘On that performance alone, Zander should be in the next Scotland squad, in my opinion,’ said crawford.
‘Hopefully he gets another chance. He definitely deserves it. ever since I’ve been at the club he’s been brilliant.
‘that’s probably one of the best performances I’ve seen. He was unbelievable. I don’t know how he made some of those saves. He even managed to get up and make a brilliant double save (from Pawlett and clark). It’s a brilliant three points.’
crawford’s match-winning contribution came after 17 minutes when cammy MacPherson robbed Jeando Fuchs in midfield. MacPherson fed crawford and the former Hamilton accies man showed his quality by curling the ball past United keeper Benjamin Siegrist from 20 yards.
the 30-year-old is on loan from Bolton Wanderers, where he endured a tough time, but crawford has fallen in love with football again and hopes to stay at McDiarmid Park until the summer.
He said: ‘I’m on loan until January but I’m hopeful that it will get extended until the end of the season.
‘I’m enjoying my football here. Hopefully I can keep popping with goals and help us climb the league.
‘I 100 per cent want to stay but unfortunately it’s not down to me.
‘If the club want to keep me until the end of the season, I’ll be more than delighted to do that.’
the rest of the match after crawford’s goal was the Zander clark show. When
edwards leapt to meet a Dylan Levitt corner the Saints keeper made a fine save to stop the resulting crashing header.
United were at their most dangerous from set-pieces and after the break it took another fine save from clark to stop edwards powering home a Levitt free-kick.
Clark then made it a hat-trick of great saves from headers when he stopped Pawlett’s effort.
The Saints keeper rounded off a virtuoso display with a late fantastic save from Pawlett and clark and there was still time for a final vital stop from edwards.
Edwards had given clark a cuddle in disbelief after his second save and repeated that at full-time in a show of respect.
Substitute Pawlett also tipped the Saints keeper for a Scotland call-up after tam courts’ United slumped to their first league defeat since going down 2-0 to Hearts at tannadice on august 28.
‘Zander clark was unbelievable. Some of the saves he made were special,’ said Pawlett. ‘It was three or four point-blank saves he made.
‘I came on at half-time and felt like I could have scored a hat-trick. I feel a bit hard done by.
‘When I was on loan at St Johnstone, from aberdeen earlier in my career, Zander was just a young lad but he always had that ability and now he’s showing it.
‘He deserves his chance in the Scotland squad and I am sure on that performance alone he will be back in the next one.
‘the consolation for us is we made lots of chances.
‘you just hope something is going to go our way and fall for us nicely.
‘It did but we just couldn’t put the ball away. Sometimes football is cruel like that and we will look forward to next week.
‘If you come off the pitch and you have not made the goalie work, then that is even more frustrating.’
DUNDEE UNITED (4-3-3): Siegrist 6; Smith 6 (Freeman 67), Edwards 6, Mulgrew 7, McMann 6; Fuchs 6, Levitt 6, Harkes 6; Chalmers 4 (Pawlett 46), N Clark 6, Appere 4 (Niskanen 46). Subs not used: Newman, Biamou, Hoti, Glass. Booked: Fuchs. ST JOHNSTONE (3-4-2-1): Z Clark 9; McCart 6, Gordon 6, Muller 6; O’Halloran 6 (Devine 76), MacPherson 7, Bryson 6, Booth 6; Crawford 7 (Ambrose 81), Middleton 7 (May 81); Kane 6. Subs not used: Parish, Davidson, Vertainen, Northcott. Booked: MacPherson. Man of the match: Zander Clark. Referee: Grant Irvine. Attendance: 7,580.