Hatters midfielder a doubt for Sky Blues clash after missing Robins victory

Luton midfielder Jordan Clark is a doubt for this weekend’s crunch home game against Coventry City which could see Town climb out of the bottom three for the first time since January.

The 31-year-old had started the last nine successive games for the Hatters, but came off with 10 minutes left in the 1-0 victory at Derby County on Good Friday, before he was an absentee on the teamsheet for Easter Monday’s 3-1 victory over Bristol City. With Kal Naismith also out due to the rules of his loan deal with the Robins, it saw Luton field a new-look midfield partnership, with a recalled Liam Walsh and youngster Lamine Fanne charged with screening the back three, centre half Teden Mengi also coming into the back-line as the other change, making his first start since late November.

That meant Amari’i Bell vacated his position in defence, moving out to the left wingback role, with Milli Alli taking up a far more advanced position to support Carlton Morris, a move that really worked off in the second period. Asked just what was wrong with Clark, who has been a stalwart for the Hatters this term, scoring five goals in 40 outings, also creating 16 big chances, the joint third highest in the Championship, Bloomfield said: “Clicks just got a knock on Friday, so we’ll see how he is going into Saturday.

"He just felt his calf a little bit, not bad, so we hope he might be right for the weekend, but we’re not sure at this moment in time. We gave him until this morning but he just wasn’t quite right. We wanted to get Milli higher up the pitch, he’s done great as a wingback, but I really felt trying to utilise him higher up the pitch as it meant moving Amari’i out of his normal position.

"I think he’s been excellent on the left of a back three, but with the tactical set-up it made sense for him to move out one. I discussed it with him and he was keen to do it. As with Teden we know he’s a big player and I thought he was very good. He’s been getting better with each performance and I was really pleased with them.

“I think there’s still more to come from Ted, but he was very, very good. I’m really pleased that a proper football team, I know Bristol have got some real good attacking players, I know Anis (Mehmeti) really well from my time at Wycombe, with (Scott) Twine and (George) Earthy and (Max) Bird and Nahki Wells, Sinclair Armstrong, they've got some proper attacking players, so I was really pleased with our defensive work."

The changes worked well for the Hatters too as Town racked up three goals for the first time on home soil since mid-October when they beat local rivals Watford 3-0. Having scored just three times during his first eight matches in charge at Kenilworth Road, it was a result that Bloomfield felt was finally deserved, as he continued: “I think we’ve been due a day where we scored three at home.

"Middlesbrough at home, Sheffield United at home, the first half, a few of those games I felt we’ve really had the opportunities to go and put two or three on the scoreboard and we haven’t done it. We want to be a team who attacks, we want to, so it’s nice for some of them to go in. Yes, a couple of loose moments for us, we jumped to press a few times when I think we could have sat in our block a little bit, but Bristol are a good team.

“They have a chance of being in the Premier League in a couple of months, so Liam (Manning, manager) and Hoggy (Chris Hogg, assistant), they’re two guys I’ve known for many, many years. They’ve done a great job down in Bristol and they’re a top team. We can’t underestimate the fact that we had a real tough game and we’re really pleased and proud to come out on the right side of the result.”