Clark relishing chance to stake his claim

CIARAN CLARK’S career has snowballed so rapidly this season that even the Aston Villa man’s disappointments bear testimony to his progress.

Yes, his club may be looking over its shoulder nervously at a possible relegation dogfight but at least the 21-year-old will be one of those intimately involved in the scrap having added 25 appearances to the solitary one to his name as of last August.

It’s been a similar story at international level where, despite only recently arriving on the scene, he could count himself unlucky not to have started against Macedonia last Saturday given he offered cover at both left-back and centre-half where vacancies had arose.