The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Saints boss thrilled to see battle for No 1 spot
Parish piling pressure on sidelined keeper with impressive performances
Zander Clark will have a battle on his hands to get straight back into the St Johnstone team if Elliott Parish maintains his Rugby Park standards, according to Perth boss Callum Davidson.
The former Dundee goalkeeper was a calming presence behind a new-look back five against Kilmarnock at the weekend and produced a number of excellent saves, the pick of them being to deny Chris Burke in the first half.
Clark is closing in on a return to fitness after picking up a knee injury in pre-season training but an immediate place in the Saints starting line-up is not guaranteed.
“If Elliott performs like that he is putting pressure on Zander,” said Davidson.
“I was delighted with his performance on Saturday.
“He has been good since he’s come in and he saved us a bit at the weekend. I said to him after that he helped get us the points.
“When we needed him he produced the saves. That allowed us to get the victory.
“Hopefully he can continue to perform like that. He also talks very well, which is one of his strengths.”
Meanwhile, Davidson revealed that Michael O’Halloran’s positive reaction in training to his red card on the first day of the season at Tannadice convinced him to recall the forward after he had served his one-game suspension.
And the manager’s faith was rewarded with an injury-time winner.
“I was pleased for Mikey to get the goal for the lads,” said Davidson. “He was feeling guilty about his sending-off against Dundee United.
“Mikey’s workrate and enthusiasm since I’ve come in have been fantastic. That is why I showed faith and put him back in the team.
“I could’ve been annoyed with him because of the sending-off.
“You know the player and his attitude. You’ll see if he is sulking and how he reacts. There were no problems with that for me.
“Mikey has the potential to be a match-winner. You could see his speed and anticipation.
“That was him only having played 40 minutes of proper football.
“He made his goal look easy. I could see him running across and you are hoping he gets something out of it.
“It was a great touch around the goalkeeper and he was very composed to put it into the net.”
Stuart Findlay’s under-hit back-pass was the chief assist for O’Halloran’s 94th-minute goal but the role of young substitute John Robertson before that was highlighted by Davidson.
He said: “It was good to get John some more game time.
“It was a toss-up between him and Isaac (Olaofe) to come on, but I thought
Robbo might sneak us a goal. It was sensible play from him to hook the ball on and put them under pressure.
“I was delighted to get him back on the pitch.”