Zander Clark heads for the Middle East after a life-changing year at Hearts

The goalkeeper's career hit new heights during a momentous 12 months

The year 2023 was transformational for the life and career of Zander Clark. He became first-choice goalkeeper at Hearts, achieved long-awaited Scotland international caps and finished the year an integral part of a team sitting comfortably third in the Premiership whilst keeping the legendary Craig Gordon out of the side.

It is quite a lot to cram in to one 12-month period. Plenty for Clark to reflect upon, then, as he takes a well-earned break in the Middle East. The goalkeeper and his wife jetted out to Dubai for some rest and recuperation following Tuesday's 2-1 win at Livingston.

A Scottish Cup and League Cup winner with St Johnstone in 2021, Clark is no stranger to success. He will take time to look back on the Hearts and Scotland achievements, although he won't over-indulge. His ambitions remain fierce in 2024 as he looks to help the Edinburgh club finish third in the league and qualify for European group-stage football.

Should he remain first-choice at Tynecastle, he may even find himself named in Scotland's squad for June's European Championship in Germany. His footballing life has changed significantly since stepping into the breach when Gordon broke his leg in December 2022.

"We are off to Dubai for a bit of sun now. Hopefully it's a bit cooler than it was during the summer and I can actually sit in it this time," said Clark, speaking exclusively to the Edinburgh News. "Sitting by the pool when the missus is tanning and I'm sitting in the shade, I will probably have a bit of time to reflect on the last year.

"Now it's just about trying to maintain that focus. When we come back, we need to make sure we hit the ground running again. We are in good form at the minute and we have to take that into the games when they start again because it is a quick turnaround - we play Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday again. The boys will be well prepared for it."

"The break will just be a chance to recharge and get away from this weather. I'm looking forward to getting away with my wife and recharging. It has been a long slog since we came back in during the summer with international duty and everything else. It will be good to go and get a rest and be ready to go when we come back. Once we are back, it's another quick turnaround of games after the winter break so we need to be ready."

Clark has managed 11 clean sheets in 31 appearances for club and country this term. He was disappointed to concede when Andrew Shinnie's late penalty brought Livingston back into Tuesday's game. Lawrence Shankland's earlier penalty was saved by the home goalkeeper Jack Hamilton before he and Kenneth Vargas scored to put Hearts 2-0 ahead.

"It's been a tough run of fixtures and, when we miss the penalty, Livingston get a lift," admitted Clark. "Then Kenny puts us one up and that settles us back down before Shanks made it 2-0. The fight from the boys to make sure we got the three points rather than a draw was pleasing."

The goalkeeper was slightly perplexed at seeing Frankie Kent penalised for handling at Livingston's penalty. Hearts had to show resilience to see the game out and earn a win which built a five-point lead in third place. "The ball came in and a couple of their boys were claiming straight away," recalled the keeper. "At the time, it didn't look like an obvious hand ball. It was a sort of stramash, I don't know if it's come over the top.

"There was a bit of a wait in between, the ball went out of play and then it was given. We dug deep and defended our box well after that. I'd say 90 per cent of the Livingston lads were giants in our box towards the end, so to defend the box as well as we did was pleasing both as a back unit and as a team."