Clark reveals the reason behind Luton's fast second half starts

Midfielder Jordan Clark revealed that Luton’s much-improved start to the second half of matches this season is thanks to the attention to detail from the club’s management staff.

Last term, Town were often never quite at their best when the referee’s whistle blew to restart the contest, as if not conceding certainly allowed the momentum to shift towards whoever they were playing, unable to build on their first efforts from the opening 45 minutes. However, this term, there has been a noticeable improvement, none more so than when Kasey Palmer’s cross was turned into his own net by Peterborough United midfielder Liam Kelly after just 51 seconds on Saturday to put the visitors 2-0 in front.

The improvement started at Reading on the opening day of the campaign as Palmer himself scored a double on 50 and 52 minutes to draw Town level from 3-1 down at the Madejski Stadium. Nahki Wells then netted with 50 minutes gone, when Luton took the lead against Stockport County, as recent matches have seen Wells on target once more in the 4-1 victory at Wycombe before every fan in attendance had retaken their seats, while last Tuesday night, Jamie Donley found the net on 51 minutes to double the lead against Doncaster Rovers.

On the way Town are now coming out of the blocks, Clark said: “The staff did a review of it at the end of last season, which was not worrying for us, but it just showed the detail they go into. I suppose as a captain, as an older player, it’s just be a bit more vocal and if you can influence one player, then great, but it’s just getting ready to go again and starting the game as if it’s a nil-nil.

"It’s an old cliche again, but you’ve got to start the game as you mean to go on and luckily this season we have done that. Getting early goals in the second half is massive, as probably that 10-15 minute period from half time to 60 minutes is big, but the staff did a review on it and luckily it’s come into fruition.”

Boss Jack Wilshere was also impressed with how his side started both halves of the game at the Weston Homes Stadium on this occasion, as he continued: “Credit to the players because a lot of games in a short period of time, we knew what we had coming up and the players have given a lot. I don’t think necessarily it was our best performance, maybe a bit harsh, in spells we threatened to take the game away from them and credit to the players for starting the way we did.

"I know Robbie (Savage, Posh boss), I know his personality, I know his team talks and what he wants from his teams, especially at the start of a game. So the idea was to match that and then show our quality to take the game away from them, and we kind of did that with the first goal. We killed their energy and their intensity a little bit, but then we fell into that level and it was a bit slow at times.

"Credit to the players, we defended how we had to in the first half, and the message was the same at half time. We know they’re going to come out fast, take the game away from them again, and then probably forwards the end, we missed a few moments on transition, which we need to improve as I felt like that after the Doncaster game."

Wilshere’s message about how United, now under the former Leicester City midfielder and Forest Green chief, will look to take the contest to the Hatters, certainly got through to his players as well, with Clark saying: “We knew we had to match them early as they’re energetic and we know how their manager is. He wants them running hard and full throttle which has worked for him, but it’s just that little bit of calmness in the final third, the right pass, and a bit of quality which we lacked a little bit.

"It was a great start for us, but I probably felt it was a little bit to our detriment as well as we stopped doing the things that were working. Maybe we thought it was going to be a bit too easy, but an early goal is good for us and just settles the nerves a little bit. Maybe we downplayed it a little bit with doing the right things and keep doing the same things that were working for us.

"Maybe we were a bit slow and passed it round the back a bit too much (in the first half), but sometimes you can maybe get into a false sense of hope, you’re one-nil up and instead of going for the jugular and getting two and three, which we know we can do. We've done it in previous weeks, but we’ve got a lot of illness in the camp, which I’m not using it as an excuse, but lads in there, four or five boys who played today were really struggling, so full credit to them to get through the game."