Clark has no problem with Luton's players dishing out some 'harsh words' ahead of Cherries victory

Hatters midfielder Jordan Clark had absolutely no problem with a few ‘harsh words’ being voiced by the players in the lead-up to Saturday’s hugely important and dramatic 2-1 victory over AFC Bournemouth at Kenilworth Road.

With Luton on a winless run of 10 top flight fixtures and time starting to run out on their bid to extend their stint in the highest tier of English football beyond a single season, the players got together on Thursday to highlight the importance of the final seven matches of the campaign if they were to achieve their goal of staying up.

It paid off brilliantly too, as despite falling behind to a Marcus Tavernier strike early in the second half, the Hatters came roaring back, Clark himself hugely influential, scoring his first ever Premier League goal to level the contest on 73 minutes. Striker Carlton Morris, who had been behind the gathering taking place, then netted a 90th minute winner from Cauley Woodrow’s brilliant left wing cross to seal a massive three points in the bid to get above the dotted line.

Discussing the meeting that had taken place prior to the fixture Clark said: “We knew how massive the game was, we spoke about it all week as a team, just the lads, we had a meeting, a lot of choice words were said. You need to do it, I’ve seen it in a couple of clubs I’ve been at, a few harsh words, because we’re all mates and we’re like a family in there. Whenever someone digs someone out or, if you say something bad, everyone knows it’s not personal, it's just trying to help the team for the next game.

"It was more about us believing as we know we can do it, we’ve just got to show it now, as it’s all good talking about it in the meeting rooms. It was just nice to see a lot of people speaking up as sometimes you can get two or three people saying stuff with the same voices, but we had a good eight or nine players sharing their thoughts and getting stuff off their chest. That’s always good as we’ve got to have 11 leaders out there when we’re playing, so it was good, really, really productive and looks like it worked, we’ll do it every week!"

Woodrow, who despite only being on for the final 10 minutes, had a huge role to play in the victory, with a wonderful ball in for his skipper to score, was happy to see Luton act on their pre-match chat, continued: “We had a meeting and we’ve had a few meetings over the season, so it's not the first one we’ve had. After that meeting to put it into play today what we spoke about was the main thing and we did that in abundance, so we’re really pleased.”

Although many might have expected Town to stretch their winless run having fallen behind once more, Clark felt it showed huge reserves of character to hit back as they carried on the fighting spirit shown during the second half at Arsenal on Wednesday night when they were able to prevent the title-chasers from having a far easier evening most anticipated.

He was also thrilled to reward the home supporters, for whom wins have been rare commodities so far this term, adding: “We go into every game wanting to win, that’s the way we play, that’s the way the manager sets us up. Sometimes it doesn’t work out, the first half at Arsenal we knew we were poor. We didn’t have any belief in what we were doing.

"I don’t know if we were a little bit scared, a little bit gun-shy, because second half we penned them in, one of the best teams in the world and fighting for the title. So what these lads are doing, it’s just unbelievable and I’m so proud to be part of it. It’s just nice to see it come off, for the fans as well, it's been tough for them but they’ve stuck with us like they always do, so buzzing for the fans as well.”