Praise for Clark but Bloomfield slightly frustrated Luton put the 'handbrake on' in Gills victory
Town chief wanted his side to carry on attacking in the second half
Luton boss Matt Bloomfield was full of praise for midfielder Jordan Clark following his first goals of pre-season during today’s 2-0 victory at League Two Gillingham, but was left slightly frustrated that his side put the ‘handbrake on’ in the second half of their contest at the Priestfield Stadium.
It was Clark who found the net twice in the opening 45 minutes, as connecting with Reuell Walters’ cross, he saw his 29th minute volley bounce into the ground and beyond the despairing dive of home keeper Glenn Morris. Town’s long-serving midfielder then doubled his tally in the closing stages of the first period, as set up from the opposite side this time, he arrived on cue to fire Milli Alli’s cross into the net.
After the break, the visitors conceded a penalty within 60 seconds, but Max Clark’s attempt was saved by James Shea, as although the Hatters went close to extending their advantage, the game remained at 2-0. That was the only disappointment for Bloomfield, who said: “Clicks just influences games doesn’t he. He got some important goals for us from a holding midfield role last season and in pre-season, him, Shandon (Baptiste), Walshy (Liam Walsh) and Sav (George Saville) have been sharing the minutes as the two pivots.
"We've got four top performers there and we wanted to try Clicker slightly higher today. He's done it when he was younger and he can play that role slightly higher as we know he can affect the game wherever he plays. It's starting to come, there were some bits I was pleased with today, there were other bits I was not so pleased with. We want to go and attack a little bit more. Once we got two-nil up I felt we put the handbrake on a little bit. I want us to really go for our opposition and really attack as much as possible.
"There's lots of learning for us, coming out after half time and giving the penalty away is really disappointing, but it’s the first time the boys have gone in, sat down for 15 minutes, come back out and I thought we were slow, so we need to address that this week. But lots to learn and lots of positives, so a really good work-out for us against good opposition. I knew that Gaz (Gareth Ainsworth, manager) and Dobbo (Richard Dobson, assistant) would have them up for it. A big strong team, they’re going to do really well in League Two I’m sure this year, so a good day for us.”
Clark was one of seven players who completed 90 minutes on the day, as Shea, Kal Naismith, Christ Makosso, Alli, Walters and Saville also all started and finished the contest. With Town going to National League opponents Southend United on Tuesday night and finishing things off at home to Europa League winners Tottenham Hotspur next weekend, Bloomfield confirmed he will look to alter things when heading to Roots Hall in a few days time.
He added: “Between these two games, we want to get as many boys up to towards 90 minutes as we can. Had that been a league game we probably would have changed a few more as a couple were flagging, but psychologically it was good to get as many through to 90 minutes as we can. I’m expecting to make several changes for Tuesday evening, so valuable minutes to get as many of the boys up to speed as we can.”