Zander Clark set for a huge opportunity as Hearts goalkeeper prepares for a big end to the season

Scottish Cup aspirations are finished this season for Zander Clark following Celtic’s comfortable quarter-final success at Tynecastle Park. The Hearts goalkeeper nonetheless has plenty to occupy him between now and May.

Helping the Edinburgh club finish third in the Premiership to secure European football is the priority. Beyond that, Clark is expected to be named in the Scotland squad on Tuesday for opening European Championship qualifiers against Cyprus and Spain. A priceless opportunity for an international debut awaits.

He has been included in Scotland squads previously without winning a senior cap. Angus Gunn, the Norwich City keeper, will also be called up and is favourite to start as No.1 having switched his allegiance from England. Clark, 30, sees a blank goalkeeping canvas for national coaches and aims to impress in the absence of Hearts colleague Craig Gordon.

“It's a clean slate for everybody going in, whoever that may be,” said Clark. “If it's myself, Angus, Liam Kelly, Jon McLaughlin – it's an opportunity. There is going to be a new face in between the sticks. It's been a long time since there's been a fresh face in there. It's up to us to train well and show the manager that we're capable of doing the job.”

After replacing Gordon with assurance at club level, Clark is confident he can do likewise for country. “I believe in myself. I've played in high-profile games. That would be a massive moment but I need to make sure I'm in the squad first before I start talking about that. It's a clean slate for whoever is selected to try and get that starting place.

“Craigy, Greegsy [Allan McGregor] and big Marsh [David Marshall] have played nearly every game for Scotland for the last 25 years or something, so it's going to be a clean slate. If you're in the squad, it's an opportunity to show the manager you are ready to step in.

"I feel I've been playing well since I came into the team. It was always my aim to get back in about the [Scotland] squads. I hadn't played enough football to feature previously. When I joined the club [last September], I knew it would be a difficult task. My aim was to try and get a couple of games here and there, get match sharpness, and try to play my way back into it.

"It's turned out that I've played a heck of a lot more than I anticipated. If I can try to get back into squads then that would be great. If you get in the squad, it's then a clean slate to show the manager that you're capable of being the starter.”

Hearts goalkeeper Zander Clark wants to make an impression with Scotland.

Clark was forced to pick the ball out of his net three times on Saturday as goals from Aaron Mooy, Kyogo Furuhashi and Cameron Carter-Vickers at Tynecastle earned Celtic progress to the Scottish Cup semi-finals.

“We can do better with the goals as a collective. That’s probably the most frustrating thing about it,” he admitted. “We need to dust ourselves down and put our focus back on the league campaign. We are sitting third and want to make sure we stay there.”

Hearts (3-5-1-1): Clark; Hill, Sibbick, Rowles; M Smith (Atkinson 73), Grant (Kuol 82), Kiomourtzoglou (Devlin 65), Halliday (Forrest 73), Kingsley (Cochrane 73); McKay; Ginnelly.

Celtic (4-3-3): Hart; Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Starfelt (Kobayashi 46), Taylor; Mooy (O’Riley 77), McGregor, Hatate (Iwata 82); Jota, Kyogo (Oh 77), Haksabanovic (Abada 59).

Referee: Kevin Clancy.

Attendance: 16,287.