Zander Clark is ready to go to war in his bid to claim the gloves for his country.
But the Hearts keeper insists there will be no bad blood with Angus Gunn or Liam Kelly as it’s a battle between a band of brothers with an unbreakable bond. Norwich No.1 Gunn and Motherwell’s Kelly will fight it out with Clark next week in their bid to start for Scotland as boss Steve Clarke assesses his goalkeeping options ahead of a double-header against Cyprus and Spain.
The 30-year-old admits it’s been a bittersweet twist of fate which has allowed him to replace the injury-stricken Craig Gordon as first choice at Tynecastle and his form has earned a recall into the international fold. Regardless of which man is selected to stand between the sticks against the Cypriots next Saturday, Clark knows it’ll be a changing of the guard now the era of David Marshall, Allan McGregor and Gordon is at an end.
He said: “Listen, there’s always battles. As a goalkeeper you know there’s only that one position and only one of you can play. So now it’s down to the next group to have those battles in training, proving that you’re of the standard to go in and replicate what the ones previously have done. You’re just focused on what you need to do to get into the team and playing.
“Being a goalkeeper, we’re a special bunch. There’s not many outfield players who could fit into a goalkeeping group, we’re a daft bunch, there’s never any fall-outs, or very rarely, in the goalkeeping department.
"Everyone just wants to do their very best. With the one who’s playing, if you can push him and improve then it’s better for the team, then you’re delighted.
"Then if they have a dip and you take their place, you’re obviously delighted for yourself but the first people to come and congratulate you are the other goalkeepers. You can look back over the the last years – it probably feels like my lifetime – that you’ve watched either Greegsy or Marsh or Craigy.
"It’s been that three that have really produced top-level goalkeeping and have got us on the brink of tournaments and got us into the Euros, which came from a magnificent piece of goalkeeping from Marsh.”
Clark has excelled since taking over from broken-leg victim Gordon back in December and it vindicated his gamble of opting to take up a back-up role with the Jambos after moving from St Johnstone last summer. It’s now paying international dividends as the keeper now eyes his first cap.
He said: “I was never expecting to be involved in squads when I hadn’t played. It would have been daft to think that but it’s also why I set myself a goal of trying to play as many games as I could to try and get myself back into the manager’s thoughts.
“I’ve played a lot of football now in terms of when the last squad was picked back in November. From December up until now I’ve played a lot of games and done well.
“I was delighted when he announced the squad and to see my name in it. That was my aim, to get back in there.”
There will be a final audition for Clark against Aberdeen today as the Jambos aim to consolidate third in the Premiership but he’s adamant his focus this weekend will be on club, not country.
He said: “I don’t look at it like that, in terms of going into the weekend game thinking that I have to play really well to stake a claim. As I said, we will have a week of training to show the manager and Chris Woods, the goalkeeper coach, who will be looking at what we can bring to the table.
“It is up to myself, Angus and Liam to prove that one of us is ready to step in and do that job that Craigy, Greegsy and Marsh have filled for the past 15 years.”
