Nicky Clark was ‘furious with himself’ but St Johnstone boss backs striker to score against Ross County

Nicky Clark’s fury that he didn’t make St Johnstone the stoppage time weekend victors will fuel his desire to be the match-winner against Ross County, according to Craig Levein.

The former Dundee United forward dragged a shot past the post at 1-1 on Saturday before Livingston went up the other end of the pitch to score.

Levein has always believed Clark is Saints’ most dangerous penalty box player.

And, if anything, the fact that he didn’t find the back of the net in West Lothian strengthens his faith that he’ll produce the goods in Wednesday night’s clash with County.

“Nicky was disappointed,” said Levein.

“But listen, he holds himself to such high standards that he was furious with himself at the weekend for not scoring.

“The good thing is he’s experienced enough to know that chances will come round again.

“He will be ready to put them in the back of the net.

“I do hope that some chances fall to Nicky.

“Because the fact that he missed some last Saturday means nothing compared to what he’s done in the course of his career.

“The evidence strongly suggests that if we give him good opportunities, he’s going to score goals for us.”

‘Look at the way we played’

Levein hasn’t found it hard to take positives from the cruellest result of the season.

“I’ve not had to lift them much.” he said.

“They know they played well. We had 25 shots at goal – probably double the most we’ve had.

“We’ve gone over it, spoken about it.

“People miss chances, it happens all the time.

“It’s just one of those games.

“Strip that out and look at the way we played, the things we were trying to do and how often we created a chance to score.

“That’s what your training does – do the right things to get a chance inside the penalty area to score.

“If you get 25 of those, you’d be hoping to get more than one goal.

“If we get 25 shots tomorrow night then I’ll be delighted.

“But I still can’t guarantee the outcome.”

No squad changes

Levein, who claimed that Dan Phillips was “held in” to prevent him from covering the back post for Livingston’s equaliser, will have the same squad to choose from.

“It’s come too quickly for Sven (Sprangler) and he won’t make the weekend either,” he said.

“As much as I’d have liked to have him available, it would be crazy to push him.

“I’m hoping Tony (Gallacher) trains later in the week maybe he’ll be available for Sunday.”

He added: “I’d like to go into the last game knowing that we have our fate in our own hands.

“That would be my dream.

“Saturday’s mindset was good. We were fairly relentless for quite a long period of time.

“Drey (Wright) and Cammy (MacPherson) made a difference on Saturday. With them I suppose I wish the season had another month ago to get them back into playing at a really high level.”