Clark wants to repay Luton team-mate for his unselfish assist at Peterborough
Town midfielder bags his first of the season against Posh
Hatters midfielder Jordan Clark hopes he can repay team-mate Nahki Wells with an assist of his own following finding the net for a first goal of the season at Peterborough United on Saturday.
With five minutes of normal time remaining, and the Hatters 1-0 up thanks to Mads Andersen’s header from George Saville’s corner on the hour mark, Luton, whose second half performance had been much improved from their opening 45 minutes, showcasing the kind of pressing and intensity that manager Matt Bloomfield quite publicly desires, did so once more.
They were helped out by their hosts though, substitute George Nevett’s slightly misdirected backpass to the wrong foot of keeper Nicholas Bilokapic not helping, but rather than just clear his lines, the Australian stopper opted to control it. However a heavy touch saw Wells, who had almost done so already in the second period, on his toes in a flash, blocking his attempted clearance before rather than going for goal himself, pick out the supporting Clark, who evaded a last-ditch tackle and then tapped in from a yard or so out.
Speaking about the ball from Wells, the midfielder, who was scoring his 19th goal in 181 outings for the Hatters, said: “I’ve played with a few strikers and they wouldn’t have passed to me there, but I love him to bits. I’ve only known him for a few weeks now, but he’s a great guy and very unselfish, same as Jerry (Yates), same as the other strikers really, very unselfish players. So fair play to him and I hope I can repay him in the next couple of games.
"It was nice, I’ll take a couple more of them, but it just shows, that’s what we work on. The manager wants us to press the keepers in this league, any backpass, any little mistakes from their centre halves we’ve got to jump on it, so fair play to Nahki. It was very unselfish to square it to me which was very kind.”
On having the sharpness of mind to beat his man before finishing, Clark continued: “I didn’t trust the pitch to be honest with you. It was very dry second half, even first half it was dry, but the heat just killed it. It was sticky to play a little bit at times, but I just tried to take a touch and luckily no-one came behind and tackled me which was good. It was nice though, especially in front of our away fans which was really good.”
Wells had started upfront alongside fellow new addition Yates in the first period, before then moving slightly wider in the second half, but his willingness to do both roles was something that Bloomfield had a lot of time for, as he said: “Nahki I think deserves a mention for his selflessness. To come off from being the main nine to playing off the left, that’s the selfless nature that we want to be as a group.
"We want to be all in it for the group before ourselves and Nahki I think really needs that recognition as his selfless pressing, even laying it off for Clicks, was brilliant. We didn’t quite get it right in the first half so we had words and adjusted it a little bit in the second half. Nahki and Jerry really pressed with an intensity, with Clicker as well doing a pivotal role for us just behind them, so I think that was a reward for the intensity we played with in the second half.”