Town star Jordan Clark believes the club needs to ‘stick together like a family’ following the 1-1 draw against Leyton Orient at Brisbane Road.
Speaking after making an immediate impact from the bench, the midfielder revealed what the manager told him before coming on.
“He said just try and get the ball, try and get forward and create a little bit, because there wasn’t a lot happening because it was a bit of a cagey game. We lacked that bit of quality, but he told me to play free and show a bit of character and to try and get us back into the game.
“It wasn’t just me though, it was all the subs, there’s no disappointment when you’re on the bench, we all watch the game and think ‘where can I come on and change things, how can I improve us?’ and I think we did that.”
On a tough evening for the Hatters, Clicker emphasised that the result wasn’t through a lack of effort, as the side determinedly fought through extra time to bring a point back to Bedfordshire, courtesy of Gideon Kodua's late header.
“It was frustrating, the first half and first 60 minutes wasn’t us, you know? We knew it’d be that type of game, they’re a good side, with a good manager and good staff.
“We matched their effort, the duels and everything we needed to do, but we lacked the quality, and it wasn’t us. We were sloppy on the ball and gave it away a lot and we got counter-attacked and the game turned into a bit of a basketball match.”
Ahead of hosting Port Vale at Kenilworth Road on Saturday, Clark said that hindsight might be a wonderful thing if the Town can take all three points and make it four unbeaten in the league – while also asserting that the squad needs to keep focused on attacking the game from the off.
“We’ve got to keep going, if we get a win on Saturday then it would have been a good week in hindsight, it’ll be good to be back at the Kenny against Port Vale,” he said.
“They’re having a tough time at the minute but they’ve got a good manager who’s experienced, but we’ve got to recover right and improve.
“When you go 1-0 down, you’re chasing the game a little bit, it’s easy then to come on and play free because you’ve got nothing to lose. But we can’t have that mentality because we’ve got to have it from minute one.
The midfielder, making his first appearance since picking up a calf injury against Northampton back in October, reiterated that it is important for everyone to feel united as the Hatters look to finish the year strongly.
“Since I have been here, this club has been used to winning a lot of football games, having pride and working hard for each other and working hard for the club,” he said.
“When you wear this shirt, you have that pride and you work hard, and you stick together like a family – the supporters gave me a great reception, I love them to bits, but winning football matches makes everyone happy.”
By Liam Wilmot
