HEROES EVERY ONE OF THEM Superb Saints seal dramatic spot-kick win
St Johnstone are off to Hampden (again) and the Fair City fairy-tale continues.
After one of the most dramatic evenings Scottish football has ever witnessed, Saints are dreaming of more silverware.
All looked lost in Sunday’s quarter-final tie against Rangers at Ibrox when James Tavernier nodded the hosts into an extratime lead.
But this proud Perth club do not know when they are defeated.
Towering goalkeeper Zander Clark was sent forward for a 122nd minute corner. He couldn’t find a leveller, could he?
Incredibly the unmarked 28-year-old nodded goalwards. And there was team-mate Chris
Kane to tap over the line to send the game to penalties.
Clark, who was in sublime form throughout, was the hero again when he saved spot-kicks from both Tavernier and Kemar Roofe.
Liam Craig, Callum Booth, Jason Kerr and Ali McCann all netted for Saints to clinch a truly incredible victory.
“If a goalie goes up he’s just trying to cause a bit of havoc,” smiled Clark. “Everybody’s got a player they’re supposed to be marking.
“If somebody just picks you up it’s usually one of the bigger ones. It’s about creating a bit of uncertainty.
“It is a risk for the defending team if you take a man off a centre-half or a striker.
“I saw it all the way, got a glance on it, it’s hit Kano and we’ve scored. That was that. It’s a great feeling.
“I’ll now need to see if the chairman will give me an assist bonus!”
Clark ran off celebrating like he was the one to net the late leveller. And who could blame him.
He laughed: “I could see Kano put it in. But everybody was running to me so I was milking it!
“Then I just wanted to make sure we were all in place for the restart. I didn’t want them scoring from the half-way line after that.
“I was able to switch my focus quickly for the penalties.
“A shoot-out can be a bit of a lottery but if you do your homework you give yourself a better chance – which we had.
“Thankfully I saved the first one and the standard of the penalties from our boys was incredible.
“I’ve saved another one and Ali has finished the job off.”
With a League Cup already in the trophy cabinet this season, Saints remain in with a chance of an unthinkable cup double.
“Listen, we’ve given ourselves the chance,” Clark said. “We’re going back to Hampden which is great in itself.
“We’ll continue to take it game by game.
“It’s always our aim at the start of the season to have a cup run.
“We’ve gone all the way in one of them and now we’ve got the chance of doing the same in the other one.
“We’ll need to get our feet back on the ground. It’s a big game in the league on Saturday and we’ll be focused on that now.”
Saints travel to Easter Road to play Hibs this weekend. togetherness.
“Sometimes it helps when you have a smaller tight-knit squad. I thought Sunday showed that.
“They kept going and I actually thought we played quite well.You come to Ibrox and know Rangers are going to dominate the majority of the game. But we defended, put our bodies on the line, fought, scrapped and had chances ourselves.
“For us to progress and give ourselves a chance to make another major final - what an achievement by the players.”
Goalkeeper Zander Clark will surely never have a better game than this. He came up for a last second corner and assisted Kane before stopping two penalty kicks.
“It was just a brilliant feeling,” Davidson added.“The boys were very calm in the penalties.
“Zander pulled off a couple of great saves. As far as performances go, it’s probably the best I’ve seen.”
The semi-final draw was taking place last night, with games pencilled in for the weekend of May 8.
Turn inside to read the full report and reaction from proud captain Jason Kerr.