Hatters boss had no doubts 'big player' Clark would be a success from the spot

Luton chief Jack Wilshere was always confident that midfielder Jordan Clark, whom he labelled as a ‘big player’ for the Hatters wouldn’t have any problems in stepping up from the spot when he was Town’s match-winner during Tuesday night’s Vertu Trophy quarter-final clash against Plymouth Argyle.

The 32-year-old, who has assumed penalty duties term after striker Nahki Wells missed twice against Mansfield Town and Doncaster Rovers, placed the ball for his fourth attempt from 12 yards in under two months when taking on the Pilgrims, as with the scores level at 1-1, Wells himself was sent tumbling in the box on 89 minutes by a clumsy challenge from Mathias Ross.

That gave Clark an opportunity to be the hero, as having missed one and scored one from his first two, the long-serving midfielder then abandoned his stuttering run-up and low sidefoot into the bottom corner that had been read by Stevenage keeper Filip Marschall, when netting in 3-1 defeat at Cardiff City, striding forward on this occasion and blasting into the side-netting despite Bermudan international Nathan Trott going the right way.

He continued with the same method in midweek, although changed his destination for the first time, opting to go down the middle to beat the imposing figure of Conor Hazard, who had clearly thought he was going to stick to his last three spotkicks, and speaking afterwards about the midfielder, Wilshere said afterwards: “I remember the one he missed, I remember sitting here and and being asked the question about Clicks and his penalties.

"I said at that time that he’ll take another penalty for us, an important penalty for us, and he’ll score. He’s done two since then, so you need a big player in those moments who’s confident, who can take responsibility and Clicks has done that so much for us this season. He’s important for us, we need him.”

The fact that Town were in the position where they needed Clark to find the net was a cause of frustration for the manager who had seen his side seemingly in control until midfielder George Saville sold goalkeeper James Shea short with a backpass on 77 minutes. The recalled stopper had to rush out of his goal but couldn’t get enough on his sliding clearance which saw Tegan Finn able to sidefoot the ball beyond the covering Kal Naismith, with neither Shea or Joe Johnson able to beat the ball to the line.

Speaking about that moment, Wilshere continued: “It’s disappointing and we’ll look at it, we’ll review it. I think sometimes you’re best off trying to play forward rather than trying to play back to the goalie, but then credit to the players, as that moment, especially after the weekend, it’s not easy to find something else, to find a little bit of quality. I thought Nahki was excellent and worked really hard all night, then to run away from someone in the final few minutes is credit to him and how he looks after himself, how he prepares. He’s older than me as well, so that’s not easy.”

Despite being disappointed by the way in which that particular situation unfolded, Wilshere had been more than happy by the way in which his side had gone about the majority of their second period display, as unlike the weekend when they had tried and failed to hold on to their lead against Burton, this time they were far more positive, always looking to add to their tally.

Goalscorer Izzy Jones put two carbon copy chances over the bar on his left foot from Shayden Morris’ crosses, while when they were breached, Town were able to quickly put that behind them and go on to win it, as the boss stated: “We spoke about that at half time, that we didn’t want to hold on to the lead. We were the best team in the first half in my opinion, we were dominating, we were on the front foot, we played with real purpose and we wanted to continue that.

"Probably we didn’t do it as much as we wanted to and we allowed them back into the game, but the improvement from the weekend in the second half was there to be seen and we have to keep going like that. We have to keep building on that and challenging the players to do that and be aggressive in the second half and they did that. We speak about doing the basics really well, especially when things are hard. Basics for a winger is making sure you lock in the back post and Izzy was there. A good finish and maybe he could have had two more from that position, but he was there which is the most important thing."

The victory, which put Luton one game away from a final at Wembley against either Stockport County or Doncaster Rovers, led to the Luton players getting a fine ovation from the half-full Kenilworth Road, as only one stand was open to home fans on the night. The response was a far cry from the kind of vitriol they had received on Saturday, as the supporters showed once more how they will always get behind that kind of whole-hearted performance from their side.

On the importance of the home crowd, Wilshere added: “We need that. I said that, this is the moment where we all have to stick together. I think you can clearly see how committed and how together the players and the staff are, and we need everyone to be. It’s nice when it’s like that, I know it’s not always going to be like that and I know there’ll be some difficult moments, but my message is still the same, stick with us. We’re giving everything, we always will give everything for this club, to try and get us back up the table, try and get us in a play-off position, but we’re going to need them.”