HAVING seen their hopes of a successful Pinatar Cup defence disappear when they lost 3-1 to Wales on Wednesday, Scotland will face Slovakia in the second game of the tournament this afternoon. The Slovakians were beaten 4-0 by top seeds Belgium in their opening game.

Although the result wasn't what anybody associated with the Scotland camp wanted, the Wales game did provide Celtic captain Kelly Clark with a first senior cap. The 27-year-old received her first Scotland squad call up for a friendly in Belgium in 2017, but it proved to be a one-off until Pedro Martinez Losa brought her in as a replacement for November's World Cup qualifier against Spain.

The defender, who is from Arbroath, retained her place for the trip to Murcia and was finally given the nod at the Pinatar Arena. “I couldn't help but think of my family back home, and how proud they would be,” she said.

“I was only on the pitch for ten minutes and it was all a bit of a blur, but I've noticed the step up from club level to international in training. It's the physical demands, the speed, the intensity. 

“That's natural, because you're training with people who play at a high level.”

Clark, who chose to continue her day job with Deloitte when the Celtic women's team went full time, is enjoying a purple patch in her career. She made appearance No 200 for the club in October, and two months later led Celtic to a League Cup final win over Glasgow City at Firhill.

Scotland captain Rachel Corsie, who coincidentally is also a central defender and qualified chartered accountant, joined up with the squad on Thursday. She had a setback in her recovery from Covid and was unable to fly out with the rest of the players at the start of the week.