Jordan Clark says Saturday’s derby clash at Watford has been the talk of the training ground, with a mix of disappointment that fans can’t be there, but a feeling of no fear after Luton’s strong start to the season.
The Hatters have made a perfect start to their Championship campaign with two wins, to sit second in the division, while they surprised a few with a promising performance despite defeat to Manchester United in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday.
Clark started against the Premier League giants after scoring the winner last weekend in the league against Derby County and is hoping to have made an impression to stay in the starting line-up for Town’s first meeting in 14 years with their fierce local rivals.
“A lot of people have spoken about it behind the scenes,” said the 27-year-old, adding: “They just said that they can’t believe there’s going to be no fans for the game, but we’ve just got to go there and try to put a performance in because they’ve still obviously got a lot of Premier League players.
“But we’re flying high at the minute. Confidence is sky-high and we’ve just got to keep going, keep testing ourselves as much as we can.
“Confidence is a scary thing. When you’ve got that feelgood factor around the place, you go out on the pitch with no fear and confidence just takes you anywhere you want to go, really.
“We were on about it the other day in a meeting. We’ve gone from the lower league grounds to playing Derby, Man United and Watford in one week.
“It’s scary but this is what we’ve all worked so hard for. I’ve worked so hard for myself, so I’m relishing it now. I just can’t wait to play.”
With two goals to his name already this season, Clark has made an impressive start to life at Luton, albeit from the bench in the league.
He said: “Scoring my first Championship goal is a great feeling and I’m just trying to get in the team now and get started in the league, which is my aim. Hopefully we keep winning.
“All I can do is try to perform well and score goals and hopefully it gives him (manager Nathan Jones) a bit of a problem. The lads have been playing really well anyway, so when the team’s winning, you can’t really say anything to him. You can’t pull him and say, ‘why am I not playing?’
“That’s not what we want anyway. We want a squad where everyone’s hungry. We’ve got two players for every position, which is massive, because it’s a long old season, so competition for places makes people perform better. “I think that’s probably why we’re getting the results, to be fair, because we’ve got a really top-quality squad.”
