Zander Clark has already experienced the wrath of his wife-to-be after Covid-19 forced the couple to cancel their wedding – but he is ready to put himself in the doghouse again if it means he can fulfil his Euro 2020 dream.
The St Johnstone goalkeeper was due to marry fiancee Robyn earlier this year until the coronavirus pandemic spoiled their plans.
Clark may not have been responsible for the postponement but he still got grief from his frustrated partner as they reluctantly pushed back their big day until this summer.
But the 28-year-old admits he will have only himself to blame if he causes another cancellation by forcing his way into Steve Clarke’s squad for next year’s European Championship.
The Perth stopper has long been tipped for a call-up and while he is still waiting to make his international breakthrough, his chance could yet come after he helped Callum Davidson’s team to become the first top-flight line-up in Saints history to go 11 games unbeaten.
A cap would be the fulfilment of a boyhood ambition – but Clark confessed his girlfriend might not be quite so understanding.
He said: “I’ll just focus on what I’m doing here. If my performances merit a call-up then it would be a great achievement.
“It’s something you always dream of doing as you grow up. But I’ve never been involved before so it’s not like I’m sitting here thinking I should be in there. It’s not like that.
“It’s nice to hear people speaking about you in such high regard and it means I’m doing something right. I’ll just keep working away and let other people do the talking.
“If it happens and I do get to go to the Euros, that would be brilliant – although I’m not to sure my Mrs would be too happy as we’ve got our wedding coming up in the summer.
“I can imagine I’d be getting the cold shoulder for a few weeks if it did happen.
“We’ve already had to postpone it once because of the coronavirus. That was out of my control but it was as if I’d created the virus!
“It would be great to go to the Euros, so I’m sure she’d come to a compromise. We’re using Zoom a lot these days, I’m sure I could be at the altar via Zoom!”
Saints can make it 12 games without defeat when they welcome Livingston to McDiarmid Park on Saturday. Such a run looked unlikely when new boss Davidson started the campiagn with just two wins in his first 10 games in charge.
But things have turned dramatically since then and the Perth men are firmly in the hunt for the top six now.
“It’s a great run of run we’re on, a club record to be 11 undefeated,” said Clark. “It’s a great achievement but we need to make sure we keep it going.
“The manager knew what the boys were about having previously been here as the assistant to Tommy Wright. He’s come in and kept the feelgood factor about the place.
“There’s been at the start of the season when people were questioning if there was unrest given results weren’t going so well.
“But the mood in camp has always been great, that manager makes sure everyone has a smile on their face in training and that certainly helps.
“Livi don’t have a manager right now but we know what to expect. We’ll have to be bang at it again like previous weeks.”
