Clark just glad to win after derby-day drama
ZANDER CLARK had an eventful afternoon at Dens Park as St Johnstone booked their place in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup on Saturday.
The goalkeeper was involved in a controversial disallowed goal before giving away, and subsequently saving, a penalty to help Saints edge past Tayside rivals Dundee.
Israeli striker Guy Melamed grabbed the only goal of the game in the first half as he guided a Stevie May cut-back beyond Dens Park goalie Adam Legzdins.
It was his opposite counterpart who had the busier afternoon though and Clark told of his delight after his side set up a fourth-round tie with Clyde at McDiarmid Park this month.
“The main thing in the cup is being in the hat for the next round. We found it hard to get our rhythm going,” he said.
“In the first half we weren’t at our best and we said at half time that we needed to improve by five or 10 per cent. We know we can play better.
“At the start of the season when we were on a poor run we were losing these types of games. And we were creating more chances.
“As a defensive unit, a team and a squad we knew that we had to make ourselves harder to beat and get in and around about each other when we were defending.
“That’s certainly shown – probably more just before the turn of the year. The boys are grinding out results. That matters even more in cup competitions when it’s all about the result.”
Clark produced a fine save to deny Charlie Adam from a spot-kick with 20 minutes remaining and after giving away the foul, he knew he had to produce the goods to rectify his error.
“I thought I got enough of the ball,” he said. “I actually think I wiped Liam Gordon out – I don’t know about their player. I was fully committed.
“The referee had given one for me before and that’s probably one of the reasons I didn’t protest. The officials make their decision and you can’t change their mind. It was then about me being ready for the penalty.
“You want to redeem yourself straight away. Thankfully I’ve got enough on it to take it on to the post and it’s come back into my hands. He’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 this one time 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.”
Despite disappointment after exiting the cup, Dundee defender Liam Fontaine was happy with his side’s display.
“I thought it was a good cup tie and we left everything out there,” he said.
“On another day we progress. We created quite a few chances and if the penalty goes in or the goal is given that was chalked off we’re in the next round.
“Apart from that, it was a positive performance from our point of view. We’ve got a good squad here, young players with good energy and I think from Saturday you can see they can cause anyone problems.
“St Johnstone are a very, very good team at keeping people out and, yeah, we didn’t score, but the chances were there and on another day we score goals and progress.”