St Johnstone goalkeeper Zander Clark is winning new fans as every game goes by.
It seems the only people yet to be convinced by the big man’s formidable form are Scotland boss Alex McLeish and his coaching staff.
Clark is doing all he can to open the closed minds at national level with a string of excellent displays, the latest coming on Sunday against Celtic at McDiarmid Park.
He couldn’t keep out the two goals that gave the Hoops victory but it was yet another man-of-the-match performance.
While McLeish and Co still appear to be immune to his charms, Clark’s biggest fans can be found in the St Johnstone dressing room.
Midfielder Murray Davidson was keen to stress that Sunday’s five-star show against the champions was just one of many from his colleague over this Premiership campaign.
He is fully expecting the McDiarmid Park number one to be at the top of his game again when they travel to Hamilton on Wednesday night.
Davidson said: “That is what we have come to expect from Zander.
“He did make a few great saves but that’s usually the case.
“Zander has been excellent the whole season and was excellent again on Sunday.”
You could argue that one 2-0 defeat is pretty much like any other 2-0 defeat but, in truth, Saints were much happier with their display against Celtic on Sunday than they were the previous midweek.
The reason was that, while they failed to attack them at Parkhead, the Perth men created some excellent chances in the second match.
There were two gilt-edged ones in particular, Matty Kennedy’s early shot and Tony Watt’s fresh-air header in the second half.
Davidson thought Watt’s one was about to put Saints ahead.
“I did think that was going in,” he said.
“I said that to him after the game.
“It was six yards out and if he heads it we score.
“He said he thought he was beyond the post.
“At the time I just felt he could have flung himself at it and taken a sore one but those are the fine margins.
“If that goes in you have got something to hold on to.
“It could have been a different story but it wasn’t to be.
“It was extremely frustrating but it was a completely different feel to Wednesday night.
“In that game we didn’t really lay a glove on them but on Sunday we were in the game.
“We had a great chance early on with Matty as well.
“You have to take your chances.
“In the second half Zander had some good saves but I thought we were through the worst of it.
“We could have done better at their goals. We worked so hard so to get undone by that was so frustrating.
“At the same time, they are such a good team that if you switch off for half-a-second then they punish you more often than not and that is what happened.”
As well as the top display delivered by Clark, Davidson also thought debut-making new loan signing Sean Goss looked good in midfield.
Davidson added: “I thought Sean did very well.
“He tired towards the end of the game because he’s been playing reserve football and that’s his first proper game in a long time.
“I thought he did well and I think he will be a good addition to the squad.”
