Hatters boss might not be able to keep Clark on the bench for much longer

Luton chief Nathan Jones admitted he might not be able to keep new signing Jordan Clark out of the starting 11 in the Championship for much longer after he popped up with the winner against Derby on Saturday.

The 26-year-old joined the club in the summer from Accrington Stanley for a free transfer and has already had some impact during his brief Town career, setting up James Collins on his debut against Norwich, while scoring a Carabao Cup winner at Reading last Tuesday night.

He was then introduced with seven minutes left during the contest with the Rams on Saturday, the match evenly poised at 1-1, needing just four minutes to settle it, heading home Rhys Norrington-Davies’ pinpoint cross, to give Jones a real selection poser.

Town's boss said: “I’m thinking Clarky might have to start.

“He’s been unfortunate to be sub, with his performances throughout pre-season, but at the minute, both sides are winning games, so it’s keeping that continuity, keeping that winning feeling.

“But I won’t make the error to keep something that's not vital to me away from the grass.

"I’m so happy for him as he’s the nicest, humblest, hard-working, best kid you can have, he really is, but I’ve probably got 24 of those.”

Jones revealed that Clark had been on his radar for a lengthy time, even back in his first spell in charge of Luton, and after working closely with the former Barnsley youngster, wishes now he had brought him in sooner.

He continued: “Since I came to the club and he was at Accrington, we’ve known about him.

"He has been probably one of the better players in the leagues that he’s been in, he really has and he was a real threat, we knew that.

"The thing is, we played a different system, where we played a diamond, didn’t really use wide ones, but if I’d have known how good a footballer he is, i would have got him earlier.

"What we did is we've tweaked things slightly, then we brought Harry (Cornick) in to give us a real impetus, so there wasn’t a need to stock the wide areas.

"Now, because we’ve changed certain criteria, he came on our radar, he’s been a wonderful signing and there's plenty to come.

"He's fantastic and it's great to have him, and he’s as an intelligent player as I've worked with.”

Jones finally did get his man in the summer transfer window though, and praised the board for pushing the boat out financially to ensure he came to Kenilworth Road.

The boss said: "He’s done phenomenally, but if you remember the players we bring to the club, they have a desire and hunger to one, play for Luton Town, two, to get to the next level and when they’re at the next level, they don’t want to stop.

"That's the great thing about the recruitment we have, the policy, our ethos, so he fitted that, he fitted that in the abundance.

"I met him, it was a wonderful meeting, and I knew I had to have him, I knew I had to have him.

"Fair play to the board as he was outside the budget, but I said, I've met this kid, we want him, they knew all about him anyway, the club backed me and I'm delighted to have him."

When Clark was signed in the summer, he came with the reputation of being one of the most creative players in the Football League, but he is now adding goals to his game too, with two so far in just three appearances.

Jones added: "That’s exactly why he's here, he’s not here for looks, he’s not here because he’s six foot five, or any other reason, he’s here because he creates a phenomenal amount of chances.

"We want him to score more goals and he’s responding.”