Hatters midfielder reveals Town squad had highlighted bouncing back from Baggies defeat with Latics cup victory

Midfielder Jordan Clark revealed that Town’s squad had highlighted the importance of bouncing straight back from defeat against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday with an FA Cup third round replay victory at Wigan Athletic last night.

The Hatters had let a two-goal lead slip away when going down 3-2 to an in-form Baggies side at the weekend, as they were leapfrogged by their resurgent opponents in the race for the play-offs.

Luton had the perfect opportunity to put things right before their next Championship outing, coincidentally at the Latics again on Saturday, which they did at a bitterly cold DW Stadium with a 2-1 victory.

Clark, who was named captain for the evening, said: “It’s massive, that’s the first thing we said after we got beat by West Brom, we go and win two games this week.

“It was a little distraction from the league you can say, but we’ve got a top squad in there whose mindset is top.

"So it’s great to bounce back, a bit of confidence, the strikers scoring goals as well.

"It takes us into Saturday and hopefully we can get three points.”

After a first half in which Luton looked the more likelier to score from the few chances that were created, they were then behind within 60 seconds of the restart, Thelo Aasgaard crashing a superb volley into the top corner.

Clark continued: “They’re fighting for their lives in the league and every game’s a tough game no matter who you play against in any competition, so we’ve got to take it seriously.

"When we went 1-0 down we didn’t panic, it’s a shock to the system early on, especially second half.

"You can’t concede that early as everything the manager says sort of goes out the window a little bit.”

However, Luton were only behind for a matter of minutes, as Allan Campbell fed Cauley Woodrow in the box and after he was denied by Ben Amos, volleyed the rebound beyond the ex-Manchester United stopper, Jack Whatmough unable to prevent it crossing the line.

It was important to restore parity so quickly, as Clark said: “A bit of character to bounce back straight away which was important and then I thought we dominated.

"They had a couple of sniffs, but I thought we thoroughly deserved the win.

"It can be tough when teams are in front, they can slow it down and frustrate you.

"So it was massive and good character from the boys, then obviously we went on and I thought we could have had three or four.

"We had 13 shots, something like that, so it was great to win.

"They’re loading the box so we’ve got to be on it, the back five was really good and we didn’t give them many chances.

"Long throws, they put it in the box from everywhere, so it was defending as a team.

"It was disappointing to concede early on like we did, but to come back and win is always nice.”

With extra time looming large, Elijah Adebayo stepped up to win it in the last minute of the seven added on, sending the 191 visiting supporters into ecstasy, along with the players and management staff too.

Clark add: “Thank god for that eh!

“It was good for his confidence. Strikers thrive on goals and we’ve got a lot of good strikers at this club.

“I was buzzing, absolutely buzzing, I think all the lads were as it can take it out of you, it can affect the league as well.

"Another half an hour is long and then you get back even later and then tomorrow’s not really much of a day as you’re trying to recover again and then back in Thursday and travel again Friday.

"It’s hard but we’ve just got to go again, we’ve got a big squad, everyone’s going to be used.

"To win is massive for confidence to take us into Saturday.”