Clark will try and take 'ownership' of his makeshift number nine role for Luton

Luton midfielder Jordan Clark insists he will try and take ‘ownership’ of the number nine role for as long as he is asked to lead the attack for the Hatters.

The 32-year-old was part of a Town XI selected at Huddersfield Town on Tuesday night which didn’t include a recognised striker on the teamsheet, with Nahki Wells dropped to the bench by boss Jack Wilshere, joined for the first time in over two months by Ali Al-Hamadi, with the visitors’ lack of forward options that their manager deemed worthy of featuring laid bare with neither Jerry Yates or Jacob Brown not making the match-day squad.

Although Luton’s team had a number attacking players like Clark, Gideon Kodua, Jake Richards and Cohen Bramall chosen, it was thought that top scorer Kodua might go through the centre with Clark in behind him, but from kick-off, it became clear that wasn’t the case, Town’s longest serving outfield player being pushed on as a makeshift number nine despite having never played in the role from the start before.

He had the odd moment in the first period, but didn’t ever really look like scoring as the Terriers tried to close ranks after being reduced to 10 men on 29 minutes when Alfie May was shown a straight red for pulling the hair of Kasey Palmer as he looked to break clear. With the Terriers then taking the lead with a shot from inside their own half just after the interval, still neither Wells or Al-Hamadi were called on, Clark trying to restore parity, rifling into the side-netting.

Wells was finally introduced midway through, but it was Clark who remained the most likely to make it 1-1, having the Hatters’ first and only shot on target in the 71st minute, easily parried away by Lee Nicholls. With Al-Hamadi also on the pitch, Clark then had another opening, hooking a volley narrowly wide from Joe Johnson’s cross, as ultimately Luton couldn’t break through and were forced to return to Bedfordshire pointless from their travels once more, suffering a third successive 1-0 defeat.

On his new position in the side, Clark, who is Luton’s second top scorer with seven goals this term, said: “I’ve been asked to play a role which I haven’t done before, but wherever I get asked to play, I’ll give it my best. I had a couple of chances which I should have done better with and then a couple of unlucky ones as the keeper saved it.

"I had one at Plymouth the other day too which was disappointing, but when I play up there I’ve got to take ownership and be the man to score the goals which I’ve not done the last two games. It’s 11 players out there, we’ve all got to contribute, so yes, we need a good look in the mirror again. We’ve said that a lot over the last few months or so and we just have to come in and get prepared for another tough game at home (against Blackpool) which we need to win.”

Asked just how much work had gone into his change of position in training before taking the field against a robust League One side who have their sights set on promotion, Clark continued: “We practised it a little bit, it’s new to me. It’s tough as they’ve got some big lads at the back, but our structure we’ve got to work on, especially when they go down to 10 men. We’ve got to be able to break them down a bit more and add more quality, get in the pockets, then get it out wide and we just didn’t have it.

"When they went up 1-0 it probably became even harder as they put even more players behind the ball, but we’ve just got to take ownership of the pitch, especially against 10 men. We’ve got to find an overload somewhere as we were sloppy, had no quality and it’s probably been the theme in the away games really. We need to create more chances which we’ve got to do, especially with the quality of players we’ve got on the pitch. It’s tough as it’s not clicking away from home and that’s the worrying thing.”

Meanwhile, boss Wilshere has often talked about the prospect of using Clark as Luton’s most advanced role and discussing how he thought the switch went, he added: “Clicker is a player in my opinion who can play probably anywhere across the front-line and it’s important when he plays as a nine, is that you have people next to him that will run behind like Gideon and Kasey Palmer.

"Also he’s probably our most dangerous player at the minute and probably the guy that gives us the most threat and the opportunities always seem to fall to him. That’s not by coincidence, it’s because he’s an intelligent player. He lacked that killer touch today, but he’s been one of the guys who’s been most prolific for us, him and Gids.

"So when they went down to 10 men it probably required something a little bit different which we tried to do and we tried to get the message on. He looked dangerous, he’s an intelligent player, so not only does he give you that option when he comes into midfield to try and create an overload, but he also understands the times to run behind, which he did a few times, so he’s interesting as a nine.”