Jordan Clark played through the pain to score Luton’s first winner in 13 league games on Saturday and then said he wants to give fans “more days like this” to help mount a big Championship survival bid.
The midfielder returned to the starting line-up against Portsmouth after an ankle injury kept him out of the derby clash at rivals Watford and the basement battle with Plymouth before that.
But despite being dosed up with painkillers, Clark ran 70 yards from box to box before bagging the winner via a Marlon Pack touch onto his own post.
“I’m still struggling a little bit, to be honest,” Clark revealed. “I’m full of tablets and painkillers and things. But, just watching the last few weeks, especially the Watford game as well, which was tough.
“Obviously, I was on the bench, but I was never right to probably play. But, luckily I feel a bit better today and it’s just nice to be back in the team and just contribute and give my all, like I always think I do.
“If I get picked, one thing, I’ll always give my best. I feel like I’ve got that experience now. I’ve been around a few years here and obviously a couple of other clubs, but that’s what we’re going to need now, especially when you see the team with more experienced heads out there.
“There’s a lot of lads who’ve played a lot of games at this level and I know it takes to win a game and get through games. We’re going to need everyone now until the end of the season because it’s going to be a big, big push.”
It was the midfielder’s first home goal since Town beat Watford in October and, like then, it ended in three points, but the 31-year-old said: “I was just waiting for someone to tackle me because I’ve never been blessed with pace and now I’m getting a bit older, I think I’ve lost a little bit pace. So I was just waiting for someone to come and tackle me, but I just kept going and then no one was there.
“I don’t know what happened after that. I think I played to Brownie [Jacob Brown] out wide and it sort of ricocheted. I don’t know what happened, but I sort of just knew it was going to bounce off the post from the keeper.
“It was weird. And then luckily, my run just took me into the box and obviously it fell nice at my feet. But it’s a nice feeling to see it hit the back of the net and it set us off on to a decent performance.
“We said ‘we’ve got to get the crowd going early’, and I thought that’s what we did, especially the first half. They put a lot of a lot of crosses in, a lot of corners, set pieces. “It’s just a nice contributing and obviously coming away with three points.”
Luton’s haul slashed the survival deficit in half to effectively three points due to Hull City’s better goal difference.
And with 11 Championship games remaining, the hope is that Luton’s first win in 71 days, which lifted them off the foot of the table, but not yet out of the bottom three, can be the springboard to a great escape.
“Obviously, it’s been a tough old season,” said Clark, who thought he should also have won a second half penalty, which referee Simon Allison waved away before getting the ball smashed into his face as Pompey cleared.
But it didn’t matter in the end, even though Town survived late scares when Kal Naismith handled in his own area – with the official was unmoved again – and Connor Ogilvie headed over from close range.
“Hopefully now we can give the fans some more days like this and have a good end to the season and get out of the relegation zone, which is massive,” said Clark.
It was also boss Matt Bloomfield’s first victory since he took over from Rob Edwards in mid-January and failed to win any of his opening eight games.
The midfielder said: “We know what happened with this club. Where we were last year [Premier League]. Obviously, there’s no hiding place now we’re obviously in a bad position.
“But just to get a win and give everyone a big boost, I’m just buzzing for all the staff, the new gaffer and all the staff because we’re probably the only team was not had that manager bounce, which everyone gets. But they’ve been working tirelessly and I’m just really pleased for all of them.”
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