The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Victory is just what Clark needed
Saints keeper so glad to put Hoops hammering behind him as late goal clinches Fir Park win
MOTHERWELL 0 ST JOHNSTONE 1
Like most footballers, St Johnstone’s Zander Clark doesn’t take defeat well. And, like most goalkeepers, he tends to dwell more on the goals he’s lost than the saves he managed to make.
As a result, the two weeks before this welcome win were not the best of times for the big man.
Saints had lost their four previous matches, shipping 14 goals. To make matters worse, their last game before the international break was the 6-0 home defeat by champions Celtic.
Clark had far too long to think about that disappointment but he can now erase it from his memory after taking the three points at Fir Park.
“You do stew on it through the lay-off, though I had a few days off but my missus had the week after off so we didn’t get away,” he said.
“I just chilled and saw friends and family and relaxed.
“One thing I didn’t do was watch the full Celtic game back – I just watched the goals again and that was enough.
“That recording is going to get deleted. I made a few good saves during the game but it was still a 6-0 defeat and it’s not one I want to watch back.
“It’s been a tough couple of weeks for us. It seems like forever since we played Celtic.
“We’ve been hurting but this was the perfect opportunity to go out and put things right.
“We knew it was going to be a battle after four minutes when one of the boys (Liam Gordon, who was elbowed by Ryan Bowman) is going off with a broken nose.
“We knew that’s how it was going to go but we stood up to the battle and showed our quality in getting the ball down and playing.
“You get that in football. It’s probably a dying art, where boys are fully committed like that.
“But with Gordon breaking his nose...I couldn’t see it, but the boys are saying there was an elbow. You don’t want people elbowing.
“I was watching England’s game against Spain and players were getting booked for winning the ball.
“People were tackling and pundits were saying they were following through.
“But that passion is the kind of thing the punters want to see. However, when it comes to flailing elbows then that’s the time to start worrying.
“We knew it would be physical – it always is here – but we stood up to it well.”
Clark made a few decent early saves to deny Curtis Main and Andy Rose but this was, in all honesty, a fairly dire affair.
Saints didn’t really start firing on all cylinders until the last 20 minutes, although their cause was hardly helped by referee Bobby Madden’s tolerant approach to the home side’s roughhouse tactics.
Saints eventually got their passing game going, though, and Trevor Carson saved well from Drey Wright and Peter Hartley’s last-gasp block denied Murray Davidson before Jason Kerr – completely unmarked – headed home Liam Craig’s corner in the 92nd minute to claim all three points.
Clark was delighted with the win bonus but just as happy with not conceding for a change.
“It was huge for us,” he said. “The goals we were losing were racking up and it was good to get back to being solid.
“Now we’ve stopped the goals going in and we have three points.
“It was great to score late on. It came in the 92nd minute but it felt like we played for 110 minutes!
“We’re only a point behind Aberdeen now. It’s a tight league and I think the standard is up this season.
“We just need to keep plugging away and, if it’s going to be a battle, we’re more than happy to do that.
One thing I didn’t want to do was watch the full Celtic game back – I just watched the goals again and that was enough. ZANDER CLARK
“And, if we can get the ball down and play, then we have the boys to do that as well.”
However, Saints’ win could make home life awkward for the 26-year-old, since Motherwell chief executive Alan Burrows is a near neighbour.
Clark said: “He stays around the corner from me. It took me a few months to realise that but he’s a very nice guy.
“He’s a Motherwell man and in the warm-down afterwards on Saturday he was probably hurting as much as the players, it means so much to him.”
Boss Tommy Wright praised his Saints team for ending their four-game losing streak with the battling win.
Wright said: “I knew we’d get a reaction from the players and that’s what we got.
“The players have taken a bit of a battering, particularly with the two results against the Old Firm.
“They should enjoy this one and look forward to another good week’s work and the next game against St Mirren.
“Even if we’d just got a point today, it would’ve been a great point given the run of results we’ve had.”
Wright went on: “We knew coming here, what type of game it would be – we knew we’d have to battle and stand up to balls in the box.
“Motherwell are really good at this, but our three centre-halves were outstanding.
“It was a good header from Jason and I think he should get more of those goals as he is great at attacking the ball like that.
“There was a lot of character in our performance here.”