SOME may find it hard to believe that Nicky Clark’s penalty against St Johnstone at the weekend was his first top flight goal in Scotland

It feels like the 29-year-old has been around forever and year after year he is never shy of finding the back of the net. 

But yes it is true Saturday’s spot kick, that he sent flying past Elliott Parish in the Saints net, was his first Scottish Premiership goal and it is one that Clark will hold in high regard among his 103 career goals to date. 

“It’s my first goal in the Premiership. I’m obviously delighted with that on a personal level.” Clark said after United’s 1-1 draw with their Perth rivals. 

“I’ve had chances before to go to the Premiership but I’ve gone to other clubs in different leagues.  

“I’m just delighted to be here now with this club. It’s a great club that should be in this league. It was a great feeling for me to score that goal personally.” 

Micky Mellon’s side had a man advantage for the best part of 50 minutes at Tannadice after Michael O’Halloran was given his marching orders shortly before half-time. 

Saints defended well and ultimately managed to grab a point through a stunning Liam Craig volley. 

For Clark though, it was very much a case of frustration at full-time. 

He continued: “We’re probably disappointed overall because it’s two points dropped.  

“It’s great for the club to be back where it definitely belongs, so it was a good goal for us, but we’re all disappointed on the day.   

“We probably found it harder to play against them when they went down to ten. I thought we were great in the first half and had some great chances. The keeper has pulled off a couple of good saves.   

“We could have gone in two or three up at the break. It is probably a learning curve for us. We need to find ways to stop that from happening again. We’re just disappointed overall that we dropped two points.  

“We’re working big on restarts, throw-ins, freekicks, goal kicks. Obviously whenever the ball goes out, that’s the end of that one so we reset and go again. We’ve worked a lot on that. We’ve got better at that but there are still improvements we can work on and I’m sure we’ll do that over the course of the season. That’s one of the things he’s brought in about restarts.” 

St Johnstone skipper Jason Kerr was at the heart of a Perth defence that was rock solid against a United frontline that boasted goal machine Lawrence Shankland. 

Scotland under-21 international Kerr took up the right sided role in a back three alongside Liam Gordon and Jamie McCart. 

And the young trio looked well drilled in a new look Saints set-up - despite only having two pre-season outings this summer. 

Kerr added: “I always enjoy playing in a back three. It gives me licence to get forward.  

“The gaffer is keen on it. He likes that style of play and has worked with it down south.  

“With having two in midfield and three up top sometimes you need to be a bit narrower and help out in midfield and when a striker drops in there you need to go in with him.  

“There was a danger of the midfield getting over-run but I felt that we dealt with that.  

“The gaffer told me at half-time that I was going to be the out-ball. That was how it worked for our goal. 

“It shows how good the team is that we can come back and get a draw with 10. We had chances to win it as well.” 

Saturday’s draw in Dundee was a stark contrast from last season’s 7-0 drubbing at Parkhead for St Johnstone and skipper Kerr knew just how important it was to get off to a good start. 

He added: “It was really important that we started well this time. Last season against Celtic was really poor – and it wasn’t just that match, it was the first nine games.  

“Getting a draw, considering the circumstances, isn’t a bad result and hopefully we can build on it now. 

“We were a bit rocky in the first 15 minutes but after that I thought we were the better team.”