CALLUM DAVIDSON has revealed that St Johnstone’s quarter-final Scottish Cup hero Zander Clark will be fit and available for Sunday’s Hampden showdown with St Mirren.
The 6ft 3in goalkeeper set up Saints’ equaliser against Rangers last month before saving two spot kicks in the penalty shootout at Ibrox.
Clark missed the Perth outfit’s victory over Hibernian at Easter Road last weekend due to a toe injury, but Davidson has confirmed that he will be available for selection for Sunday's semi-final.
Providing a St Johnstone injury update, Davidson said: “Zander is good. The toe injury has cleared up so that is a positive for Sunday. As good as Elliott Parish was against Hibs, it’s good to have Zander back.
“Scott Tanser is the only one who is injured. The good news is his injury is not long-term. The bad news is that he is out for the rest of the season.
“After I saw his ankle and how swollen it was, I was actually quite pleased with the scan result. He will be there or thereabouts for the pre-season of his comeback.”
Tanser is out of contract at the end of the season and it remains to be seen whether he will opt to continue his stay at McDiarmid Park.
Saints offered the Englishman a new deal in January, but the 26-year-old is yet to make a call on his future.
Davidson continued: “I would like Scott to stay and I’ve told him that. We made him an offer back in January but it’s a decision for Scott and his family.
“I’m hoping we can persuade him to stay because he has been good this season. I haven’t had any notes of interest for any of my players. As far as I’m aware there is nothing there.
“But once you get to the last six months of a contract they are free to speak to other people. Hopefully I can get another couple of players signed up by the end of this week.”
Davidson was this week named on the manager of the year shortlist for the Scottish Football Writers Association.
The 44-year-old is up against Rangers boss Steven Gerrard, Scotland national team manager Steve Clarke and Livingston’s David Martindale.
On the recognition, Davidson beamed: “I’m very honoured to be named along with the other contenders. The players have performed on the pitch to help me get to that position.
“I’m delighted to be up there in my first season. If you had asked me in October time, I’d have said ‘not a chance’. But lately we’ve been really good and it’s all credit to the players.
“I had seven years as an assistant and tried to learn as much as I could along the way to prepare myself for being a manager. It’s been extremely difficult with Covid and the rules and regulations with it. That has been the hardest part of the job.”
He continued: “First and foremost you always have to set your sights on staying in the Premiership at St Johnstone. Anything else you can achieve is a bonus.
“That was how we worked under Tommy and it’s the same now – get the points you need as soon as you can and take it from there. I’ve set myself a high bar for next season – it’s going to be tough!”
St Johnstone fans are yet to witness a match in person where Davidson has been in charge, but he hopes the success of his team has captured the imagine of the people of Perth.
He added: “We want to say thanks to everybody for the support we’ve had this season – you can’t see it but you can feel it. It would be nice to go on a bus around the city.
“We know how much support we’ve been getting and we know how tough it must have been for them to miss out on some big games.
“They’ve missed out on two trips to Hampden. It will be a third on Sunday and hopefully there will be a fourth. Hopefully the kids will be watching their mums and dads jumping about in their living rooms on Sunday afternoon again.
“I’ve got a few friends whose children are all wearing St Johnstone tops now and it would be nice to think there a lot more like them.”
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