Wilshere felt returning Clark 'made the difference' for Luton at Brisbane Road

Hatters boss Jack Wilshere hailed the return of midfielder Jordan Clark after his influence from the bench helped Town pick up a point during their 1-1 draw at Leyton Orient last night.

Having only been on for 20 minutes, Clark, who had been missing for the last nine games with a calf injury, had three shots, the joint most from any Luton player with point-saver Gideon Kodua, as he almost levelled straight away, sidefooting against the outside of the post after his run into the box was found via a slight deflection by defender Nigel Lonwik’s pass.

Despite what was only a brief spell on the pitch, the 32-year-old also had the most touches in the opposition area with five, heading another opportunity wide from Shayden Morris’s cross, before demonstrating some fancy footwork to dance past a covering O’s defender, only to put his outside of the boot delivery too close to keeper Killian Cahill. With five of the 10 minutes of injury time having been played, it was Clark’s snapshot that was charged down in the build-up to Liam Walsh’s well-hit half volley which cannoned behind for a corner, Walsh himself taking, as Kodua headed in following an error by Cahill, who got nowhere near the set-piece.

Speaking about the impact of the long-serving and hugely popular Clark, who had spent just over six weeks on the sidelines following that Cobblers match, Wilshere said: “He’s creative and I say to the boys when we try to build up in our half, we need a little bit of structure, especially under the ball, as if we lose the ball we’ve got men there. When we get in the final third, be free, go and make something happen and that’s Jordan Clark’s game.

"I knew when he got injured at Northampton in the second game, I knew that we’d miss him, we’d miss his quality. You can probably see, we haven’t scored that many goals since he’s been out, but he’s someone that we’re going to need and also credit to the medical team as he’s only been training maybe two days properly. It was a little bit of a risk, but you can see how ready he was to step in and he made the difference.”

Asked if he can go again when bottom side Port Vale visit Kenilworth Road on Saturday, as his creativity will be desperately needed to unlock a visiting side who will no doubt head to Bedfordshire looking to stifle their opponents, without a victory in the league since September 27, Wilshere added: “Let’s see, let’s see how recovers as one thing that’s for sure is we don’t need him to get injured again. He’s fit, he looks strong and ready, but let’s see how he trains Thursday going into Friday but I’m sure he’s an option.”