Zander Clark delivered another timely reminder to Scotland boss Steve Clarke with a showstopping performance against LASK on Thursday night.
But despite the clamour for the St Johnstone number one to be handed an international call hotting up this week, the 29-year-old was playing it cool.
Clark made three massive saves in Austria - including in the first and last minutes - to ensure Saints go into Thursday night’s winner-takes-all Europa Conference League play-off second leg in Perth with a huge chance of reaching the group stage.
It followed a similarly heroic performance against Galatasaray in Istanbul a fortnight earlier.
Scots boss Clarke is preparing to name his squad for the vital World Cup qualifying triple header with Denmark, Moldova and Austria.
With David Marshall having dropped to third choice at Derby the national manager could be swayed to bring a newcomer into the set-up and he watched Clark in top form against Motherwell earlier in the month.
That had Saints boss Callum Davidson tipping his number one for a cap call.
But the big keeper said: “I’m enjoying my football and enjoying the experience of playing in European competition.
“If I’m getting praise for my performances that’s very flattering and if people want to link me to the international set-up then that’s very kind of them.
“But I’m aware that there are many excellent Scottish goalkeepers out there.
“My focus will remain on St Johnstone and doing my best in every game at club level.”
Despite two huge results on the continent Clark is adamant St Johnstone’s cup double winning heroes still have their knockers.
But after upsetting the odds again on Thursday he reckons Callum Davidson’s Saints are thriving on being written off.
Ahead of this afternoon’s home clash with Dundee United he said: “It’s another big result and performance on the road. They’re no mugs. Last year they got 10 points in the Europa League in Tottenham’s group.
“They have good quality and break forward quick but we were prepared for it.
“We were disappointed not to hold onto the lead. But it was a positive performance to take back to McDiarmid.
“It’s a big statement we’ve made.
“After the success of last season there are still people who doubt our ability.
“But we are here on merit, through our hard performances and we are the sort of group that believes in itself to go onto this stage and compete - not just make up the numbers.
“We have shown that against Galatasaray and now LASK.
“We like having that underdog status.
“It was a great team performance in Austria and it’s always nice to contribute with a few saves.
“The one just before half time that the big centre half strikes from distance was the pick because I see it late and it’s dipping. I just managed to get my hand up and to be fair I don’t even know where it goes after that.
“It’s my job to make saves and keep us in the game.”
Clark hopes for another bumper crowd at McDiarmid after the Galatasaray sell-out a fortnight ago.
And he reckons Saints can learn from that defeat to the Istanbul giants - which followed a 1-1 draw on the road - ahead of the LASK showdown.
He said: “We can learn lessons from what happened against Galatasaray. It’s a similar situation we find ourselves in and it will perhaps be a similar game.
“We will have to soak up pressure but it’s about how we approach the game. We will take the positives from Thursday night and make sure we produce more moments hopefully in front of a big crowd again.
“If we can get them behind us right from the off - start like LASK did on Thursday maybe get a chance early doors and get the crowd behind us and go from there.”
Before then it’s a Tayside derby with United in Perth.
And Clark said: “It’s easy enough to get your focus back. The league’s what you want to do well in. Europe is a bonus for what we achieved last year.
“We will be fully focused on going into Sunday’s game now and trying to get our first three points on the board in the league.”
