The size of the challenge Zander Clark has just to stay in the St Johnstone side was underlined on Tuesday night.
In Belfast the Perth goalkeeper’s rival for the starting jersey at McDiarmid Park was playing, and playing well, for Northern Ireland.
But it is Clark, not Alan Mannus, who is the current Saints number one.
And knowing that there is such a high calibre keeper on the bench, is helping Clark maintain standards that many believe will one day lead to his own call-up for his country.
“It keeps me going,” Clark admitted. “When you look at it, it’s great for Alan to be playing for his country.
“For me, I know I’ve got an international goalkeeper competing with me so I know I need to be in my best form to keep my place.
“It probably brings out the best in me, knowing that.
“We’ve got a great relationship on and off the park. Al has been nothing but positive towards me. I was the same when Al was in.
“That’s how it is for goalkeepers. At the end of the day, only one of us can play.
“Whoever plays, you have to support. We understand the specific pressures that a goalkeeper has.”
At 24, Clark is a young pup in goalkeeping terms, but he knows that calling the shots with an experienced back four in front of him is part of his remit.
“I’ve got the boys around me who I need to organise,” he said.
“That’s where my loan to Queen of the South has played its part.
“When I first went there I was only young and the onus was on me to organise.
“There was big Mark Durnan, Chris Higgins and Andy Dowie. They were experienced boys and you had to go in there and more or less tell them what to do. It’s your job.
“If you’ve not got the right man marking an opponent, it comes back to you.
“We’re all team-mates. It’s not about bossing people about. If you want them to be there, that’s where they need to be.
“The loan definitely helped me with my communication and organising experienced players who have been in the game a lot longer than me.”
Clark added: “Communication is vital. We’ve got that in abundance – we’re all talking to each other.
“We have our fall-outs every now and again but it’s only on the park. As soon as the game’s over it’s all forgotten about.”
Saints welcome Ross County to Perth this afternoon and you have to go back to the last time the sides met at the start of October for a clean-sheet.
With manager Tommy Wright pinpointing defensive mistakes as the reason points have been dropped at home in recent weeks, today would be a perfect time for another shut-out.
“Of course that’s what we want,” Clark said.
“I think we’re still looking pretty solid at the back but we’ve lost a couple of goals that were preventable.
“Sometimes you have to hold your hand up and say it was a good goal or good delivery from the opposition but there were a couple of gaols we weren’t happy with.
“Getting clean sheets again is the aim because you know that guarantees you at least a point.”
On the challenge posed by bottom of the Premiership County, Clark said: “Where they are in the league probably doesn’t reflect the squad that they’ve got.
“They’re a good side and we know we need to be on our game to match them.
“We’ve had a few disappointing results when we’ve dropped points that we should have been picking up.
“We’ll be looking to recreate the performance that we produced up in Dingwall to get the three points.
“It would be good if we could start another wee run.”
Keith Watson, Chris Millar and Murray Davidson are still ruled out for Saints.
