Hatters midfielder Jordan Clark believes that everything is still to play for in the Championship play-off semi-final despite being one-goal behind against Sunderland.
“The beauty of the play-offs”, said Clark. “It’s not the result we wanted, but obviously they are a good side, it’s only half-time.
“Started the game and got the goal, I thought that there was no way we were going to lose this game. Fair play to them, they’re a good side and they’ve got some really good players. We know that at our place it’s going to be a different game and we’ll make it difficult. It’s a big pitch here, fans were good today for them and created a good atmosphere. I’m just looking forward to Tuesday now, I can’t wait.
“It wasn’t like us, I thought we could have played into the strikers a little bit more, especially in the second half I thought we weren’t great, but obviously we’re still in the tie. We just need to work on some things over the next few days, recover, watch the clips and watch the game back, learn where we could have been better and just take it to Tuesday full of positivity because we’re good enough to beat anyone at our place.
“It’s the play-offs to get to the promised land. It’s the biggest game of everyone’s career, barring the players who’ve already played in the Premier League. This is what you play football for, this is what you dreamed of when you were a little kid, to play in the Premier League. It’s a big pressure, 46,000 fans here, these are the stadiums you want to play at. You get different kind of nerves, if we had drawn the game, we’d still have to win the second leg.”
The 29-year-old cited that the second leg at Kenilworth Road will be a different affair to the game at the Stadium of Light and the Hatters fans will play their part.
“It’s going to be a different game at our place, it’s a tighter pitch, they won’t get as much space as they have done today, and we need to work on a few things. I’m sure the crowd will be up for it and it will be another great atmosphere.
“We’re really positive. It’s obviously not the result we wanted, but we know we’re still in the game and we’re a good side, we finished third in the league for a reason and the league table never lies. We’ll do all the things we need to do to get the body back to 100 percent, we’ll go through what we need to go through and put right what we can for Tuesday.”