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Clarke: Hopefully First Town Goal Can Give Me Some Momentum
Monday, 13th Jan 2025 11:43 by Russell Claydon

Jack Clarke hopes breaking his Ipswich Town duck with a ‘trademark goal’ against Bristol Rovers can give his game some momentum going into three tough Premier League fixtures, starting with the visit of Brighton & Hove Albion on Thursday (7.30pm, TNT Sports).

The 24-year-old winger was in the right place to slide home a blocked Ali Al-Hamadi effort from six yards out to double his side’s lead midway through the first half of the Emirates FA Cup third round tie against the League One outfit at Portman Road on Sunday.

It came either side of strikes from Kalvin Phillips - also his first for the Suffolk club - and Jack Taylor to send them into the interval with a commanding 3-0 lead which was how the scoreboard remained at full-time to ensure a fourth straight appearance in the fourth round for the Blues, who will travel to Championship side Coventry City.

“Yes, I'm happy to get my first goal obviously in an Ipswich shirt and it's probably one that's been long overdue,” he said. “I hit the post at Fulham so I have been getting closer but that one felt nice and hopefully I can give myself a bit of momentum going into the next few games.”

Asked if it had been playing on his mind, coming in the summer arrival from Sunderland’s 18th appearance in all competitions, he said: “I never try to think about it too much. As long as you're doing the right things day in, day out, your luck's going to turn at some point and it's probably a trademark goal.

“I won't let anybody say it was a brilliant finish or anything like that but you've got to be in the right spot and today I was and thankfully hit the back of the net.”

The Blues’ victory - only their second at Portman Road in 11 fixtures this season - saw them avoid slipping on an FA Cup banana skin like they did last season in the fourth round with a 2-1 defeat to non-league Maidstone United.

Clarke said: “We obviously knew what we wanted to do. We wanted to get into the next round of the cup and we knew we needed to be disciplined in terms of our performance, take the game seriously and we did all of those things.


“We put them to the sword a little bit in the first half by taking our chances and that obviously gave us a nice cushion going into the second half.

“We just said [at half-time] we needed to be disciplined and see the game out and that's what we did.”

The game against the Gas saw Clarke get only his fifth start in 18 appearances for Town, since his August move from Championship Sunderland for a reported £15 million fee. And although there were elements he was happy with about his performance he admitted to being his own biggest critic.

“I’m always happy to start when I'm called upon. I thought it was okay with a few nice moments,” he said.

“I always try to do as much as I can when I'm playing. I'm not fully satisfied. I'd say I'm my harshest critic as  you always want to feel like you can do more.

“You always think back to a few moments during the game where you feel like you should have done this, should have done that and that's probably what I'll ponder on for the next hour or so and then move on to the next game.”

Put to him that it must be hard to find a rhythm when not starting game regularly, he said: “Yes, it's always difficult but you've just got to be ready like a lot of the boys were today.

“We got called upon to play in this game and in the cup and we still knew we had to
deliver a performance and that's what we did.”

On how he has found adapting to the intensity and different requirements in his systems under Kieran McKenna, he said: “Obviously I'm playing a different role [to Sunderland] and the demands are a little bit different.

“Obviously the league is a lot different and stuff like that. Like I said [previously], I’m trying to learn and impact the games as much as possible and sometimes it's easy to fall back into old habits in terms of what you know naturally and what you've been used to doing.

“And obviously the manager and the team demand different things, the league demands different things. So I'm always learning, trying to improve every single day and hopefully that'll take me in the right direction.”

On backing himself to find his feet and flourish as a Premier League player, he said: “I'd like to think so. I think myself and the team have shown a lot this season already and probably proved a lot of people wrong in terms of those who doubted us before the season started that we do belong in the Premier League and we do have more than an outside probability to pick up points and put in performances.”

Town will head into Thursday’s return to Premier League action against 10th-placed Brighton & Hove Albion off the back of three positive results: a 2-0 home win against Chelsea followed by a 2-2 draw away at top-half Fulham ahead of the comfortable cup win. And Clarke is hoping it can stand them in good stead with champions Manchester City and leaders Liverpool also on the horizon to complete the next trio of games.

“It's small steps taking us into obviously three tough games and if we can take a bit of every single game and put them into the next three, hopefully we'll be able to pick up points across the next three,” he said.

After the Blues host basement side Southampton on February 1st, attention will then turn back to the FA Cup with yesterday’s fourth round draw sending them to Frank Lampard’s current 16th-placed Championship outfit Coventry City looking to progress further on the road to Wembley.

“I think all teams want to progress in the FA Cup,” said Clarke. “It's a competition everybody likes to play in.

“You're never going to turn down playing more football and I think that's what everybody wants to do, especially when you've got big squads.

“People want to be playing and the longer we're in the FA Cup, the more games we've got and it helps everybody out.”


Russell Claydon/Matchday Images



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Leejames99 added 12:06 - Jan 13
Had a great game, will improve under Mckenna. Good asset in my opinion.
22

d77sgw added 12:08 - Jan 13
Completely agree. Been written off far too quickly by some here IMO. Offers us something very different, and a great option for changing things up a little.
18

Rimsy added 12:59 - Jan 13
Showed glimpses yesterday of why we bought him, albeit against a poor Bristol side. Should give him a confidence boost and hopefully will show his mettle against better teams.
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Gforce added 13:08 - Jan 13
I agreed that overall Phillips was motm,but Clarke and Townsend were also excellent. In Townsend's case he'll make a very able deputy to Davis if & when required.
7

Alphawhiskey added 13:12 - Jan 13
Thought he played well yesterday.
He is still young and will only keep improving under KMc
keep your head up Jack!
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Leejames99 added 13:35 - Jan 13
Just read Whittaker available at 10 million, at that price he has to be considered, even a player plus cash like Hamadi.
I have a feeling also though tgat Hamadi may bring in alot of revenue from shirts etc, it's the only reason I can see why he even getting on pitch, I don't think even he thinks he should be plating, a striker to miss the actual target with a free hit is unacceptable, putting over is one thing when plays going top corner etc but to go wide, that's basics, I felt for him, strikers need confidence, he be a great striker for a top league 1, or relegation threatened championship team now he has had all that time with our first team every day. Hamadi plus cash to Plymouth for Whitaker even player plus 9 be value in my opinion.
-9

runningout added 13:37 - Jan 13
no drama with Jack Clarke, it’s obvious he’s full of talent. You will always get a few sad doubters
8

flykickingbybgunn added 13:37 - Jan 13
Good to see him getting a start and a goal will give him a boost,
He is right to say it was a simple score. But also to say that you had to make sure you are in the right place to take it.
Well done.
4

ArnieM added 14:05 - Jan 13
Clarke has spades of talent , that’s clear, but for me he is physically so very lightweight. He needs to strengthen up over the coming summer for next season to make a bigger impact, whatever division we are in.
1

jayceee added 14:19 - Jan 13
I remember as he was about to join us, some Sunderland fans were saying that he just wants to please the fans - and will give everything and then some to achieve that. I think it was a case of almost trying too hard to get off to a great start.

So while the start has not been bad, you know he wanted to give more - in time I'm sure it'll come and will soon enough be a fan favourite! So glad he's finally got the first goal monkey off his back though. One on the PL and he'll be well set.

I saw a few comments about his apparent lack of enthusiasm for the his goal this weekend. I saw it as perhaps as a relief or a bit of anger that 'that is how to put it in the net". Could also have been a bit of respect for a lower team? Perhaps frustration that he should be doing it in the PL too.

4

Jugsy added 14:44 - Jan 13
Just looks to be lacking in confidence in the way in carries himself. At Sunderland, he looked like one of the most confident players you'll ever see. I think the system is taking time for him to adapt to, next season we'll see much better from him. He's in that space where Omari used to be where he's taking an extra couple of touches or isn't sure of his outlet in his play. It'll come, the Premier League is punishing for indecisive players but he'll get there.
2

Bazza8564 added 15:08 - Jan 13
I thought he was superb yesterday. Yes it was a league one team, but his choice of when to pass, when to push was much better and he now looks happier going down the left and varying his game too. Ive got great hopes for this lad, he is very very young and he has been brought here for what he will deliver us in 2-3 years time, the improvement is beginning!
9

Jugsy added 15:22 - Jan 13
Leejames99 - revenue from shirts sales? Iraq, that well known country for sports mech? Come on...
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 16:08 - Jan 13
Plenty of potential here. I think his "lack of enthusiasm" having scored was maybe just that that particular goal was a pretty simple effort. I appreciate that he didn't go overboard for doing something any professional player should have been capable of. He did plenty of other good things too and had a good game.
2

Leejames99 added 16:56 - Jan 13
@jugsy lol yeah I know I was just going by all the traction he gets on social media that was all, I see how daft that sounds though, fair play
1

armchaircritic59 added 17:51 - Jan 13
I think we all need to remember, he's still relatively young, trying to adapt to a new role and doing it on the most difficult and unforgiving stage of all. Just needs a bit of time.

Even Peps bunch of stars often need a complete season to get used to his ways!
0

Northstandveteran added 18:46 - Jan 13
Leejames99

I've often commented that Baggott is kept on for his commercial reasons, there are 200 million Indonesians to sell shirts to.

Although this may not be the case in Iraq for Hamadi, has anyone noticed that he gets massive votes on the BBC reports and often finishes top of the individual players ratings?

He was the highest rated town player after our last league game and got a score of over 7 for the F.A cup game!

You have to ask yourself who's giving him these high scores?

And I'm not slating him, but it's not Ipswich fans scoring him higher than the rest of the town players.
0

Leejames99 added 20:00 - Jan 13
Northstandveteran

Thats what I was referring to, I work in PR and monetary value of social media and merchandise is huge as you know, very similar to Baggot exactly, TV rights etc who knows but yes I don't think many Town fans ve voting him MOTM so who knows.
Looks like great guy just needs time to grow, loan definately needed.
But in Ashton and Kmck we trust
0

dirtydingusmagee added 20:03 - Jan 13
Give him a break he will settle in,,still no Philogene!
0

dirtydingusmagee added 20:03 - Jan 13
Give him a break he will settle in,,still no Philogene!
0

dirtydingusmagee added 20:03 - Jan 13
Give him a break he will settle in,,still no Philogene!
0

Northstandveteran added 22:43 - Jan 13
But he does have a haircut like a Lego man.

0

Northstandveteran added 22:49 - Jan 13
Perhaps we should Lego of him........

0

Northstandveteran added 22:49 - Jan 13
( on loan )
0


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