Jordan Clark says he is hopeful of being fit for Luton Town’s decisive final-day trip to Bolton Wanderers, as the Hatters’ top scorer targets a return from injury in time for what he describes as a “massive game”.
The midfielder, who has been sidelined since the win over Northampton shortly after the Vertu Trophy triumph at Wembley, revealed he has stepped up his recovery this week and is pushing to be involved as Luton bid to secure a League One play-off place.
“I’m feeling better. I’ve did a little bit of running on the grass and stuff with physios and the fitness guys. Obviously, [I’m] touching all the wood I can at the minute. I felt okay today,” he said on Tuesday night ahead of scooping four prizes for the second year running at the Luton Town Supporters’ Trust Awards bash.
“Thursday, Friday, probably, hopefully [I’ll be] joining a little bit of team work and tactical stuff. [I’ll] hopefully come in Thursday and I feel good again and put myself forward for selection. Let’s see.”
Clark admitted the timing of the injury had been frustrating, coming just as Luton built momentum following their Wembley success.
“It’s a massive game. Yeah, [the injury] came at the wrong time,” he said.
“Obviously we had such a such a great occasion on at Wembley and it was great to win that trophy. You want to kick on to the end of the season. Probably, the Northampton game probably came a little bit too soon because the old cliche, the Wembley pitch is huge and I did a lot of running that day. I played a lot of full games in a short space of time during the last month or two.
“I just had a little muscle injury which was not as bad as I thought it would be. I missed the last few games, which has been tough. I’m not a great watcher of the game now any more. I get a bit more nervous than I do when I’m playing. I don’t know how fans do it, to be fair.”
Despite missing recent matches, Clark has still played a central role in Luton’s late-season surge, scoring a career-best 12 goals and helping drive a run of eight wins in ten games in all competitions.
Reflecting on that turnaround, which has turned a relegation-level number of points per game in the early part of 2026 to a title-winning haul in the last two months – if extrapolated over a whole campaign – Clark was quick to credit both the coaching staff and the collective effort within the squad.
“The turnaround has been unbelievable. Full credit to the coaching staff for that. They’ve found the system that’s working for us and the personnel and the little things we needed for Jack [Wilshere – manager] to implement and also to finally get used to it really,” he said.
“I think obviously you can see that now, it’s quite a settled side lately. We’ve had a lot of big players come back and [from] start the January transfer window, it’s been a really big blessing for us. Even some of the players that have been in such good form, like Kasey [Palmer], for example, and young Emilio [Lawrence] and obviously Hakeem [Odoffin], who’s come in and kept himself fit, which has been massive for us.
“We’re on a roll, we’ve got momentum now and hopefully it continues on Saturday.”
Clark also pointed to a shift in mentality as a key factor behind the improvement, with belief replacing the lack of confidence that characterised the first half of the campaign.
“When you get into that positive mindset and you go into each game thinking you’re going to win, whereas probably previously we thought we were going to lose and we’ve been short of confidence, which has been probably the first half of the season,” he said.
The 32-year-old reserved special praise for captain Kal Naismith, whose late winner against Northampton proved a pivotal moment in the run-in – especially as he’d missed to golden chances and limped off injured by the time the skipper struck a sweet, 30-year free-kick in injury time.
Clark said: “I missed a great chance to win the game, and I think I pulled my calf 20 minutes before missing two chances. I missed the first one and I was like, I can’t go off now if this is 1-1 and the season feels like it will be done, I won’t be able to live with myself.
“And then when I missed the second one, when I blazed it over on my left foot, I was like, oh no. They took me off and I was gutted. I was thinking about crying a little bit, but then obviously then you see Kal pushed a few boys out of the way and just whipped in the top corner.
“The celebration was great as well – apart from Nahki [Wells] taking me out.”
With Luton needing victory at Bolton on Saturday and relying on results elsewhere for Stevenage, Bradford and Stockport, Clark insists the focus remains simple.
“It’s a big game. It should be a good game as well because it’s definitely the sides at the top of the table. The table doesn’t lie. I’m just looking forward to it now,” he said.
“It’s like a one off-game, we have to win. We know that. And hopefully we get a little bit of luck elsewhere.”
And for the 3,000 Luton supporters making the journey, his message is clear.
“We’re going to need your support. It’s a massive game,” he said, adding: “Cross your fingers and your toes and just bring your noise like you always have.
“It’s down to us to give you something to shout about on the pitch.”
The fans view…
For more interviews with Clark, some of his team-mates and management, watch the Luton Town Supporters’ Trust Podcast, filmed at the fan group’s awards bash on Tuesday, where the panel including our man James Cunliffe look ahead to the Bolton game and all the implications…
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