Town midfielder Dan Neil believes Jack Clarke could be the difference maker as the Blues seek an immediate return to the Premier League.

Clarke has raced to the summit of the club’s scoring charts this season and notched his 14th goal of the campaign in Town’s 1-1 home draw with Millwall on Saturday.

His strike broke the deadlock shortly before half-time, the winger drifting in from the left and firing a powerful low strike beyond Lions goalkeeper Anthony Patterson from 25 yards out.

Neil played nearly 100 matches alongside Clarke while at Sunderland, and the January recruit was full of praise for the Blues’ standout performer in attack.

“That was probably the best Jack Clarke performance I’ve seen since I’ve been back playing with him,” he said. “I thought he was direct, the right-back was almost a bit scared when he was getting it.

“When Clarkey’s on it, he’s by far the best winger in this league bar none, and you’ve seen that today. We need to keep feeding him the ball and giving it to him in dangerous areas from now until the end of the season and he can be the difference maker for us.”

After largely warming the bench at the Stadium of Light during the first half of the season, Neil has looked to regain his match sharpness and was rewarded with a second successive start against Millwall.

The 24-year-old has now partnered Azor Matusiwa in midfield from the off in five of the Blues’ last seven matches, which he feels has been extremely beneficial.

He said: “I still think there’s parts of the game that are still coming back, I had a long break from playing so back-to-back starts is nice. I’m getting more minutes each time I'm playing and I'm feeling more comfortable with the system and players around me. I’m feeling a lot better.

“Azor’s the ultimate professional from what I’ve seen since I’ve come in. I didn’t realise how good of a player he was until I started training with him every day. Technically, he’s brilliant, taking it off the back four and going forwards.

“He’s obviously a bit of a destroyer in there, which he’s probably known for most of the time with interceptions, winning second balls and duels. It’s been really nice to play with him and hopefully we can keep building on the connection.”

Town’s draw with the Lions on Saturday lunchtime came at the same time as second-placed Middlesbrough’s goalless draw at Blackburn Rovers.

It leaves the battle below leaders Coventry City for automatic promotion as it was at the start of the weekend, with the Blues and Millwall both two points behind the Teessiders.

Kieran McKenna’s side do hold a game in hand, but Neil was left disappointed that his side passed up the chance to move into second following Saturday’s draw at Portman Road.

“Initial reflection when you see Middlesbrough have drawn, it’s maybe an opportunity missed,” he said. “At the same time, it’s another point on the board. We’re in the same spot as we were before the game, with a game in hand so we’re still in a good position.

“The old cliché is take one game at a time. We’ve got a week or so off now to rest and recover because it’s a busy period coming up, which starts with Birmingham on Easter Monday.

“You’ve just got to keep going until the end. It’s slightly different because by this point last season, Sunderland were rooted in fourth. There was no chance we were going to get second and there was no chance we were going to drop to seventh, so we were in a bit of no man’s land.

“We’ve got an unbelievable chance to sneak into that top two. It’s the cliché of the next game. We need to focus on the next game, make sure that we’re fully prepared for it and try and take the three points from each game from now until the end of the season.”

When Town return from the international break, they face a daunting run of eight matches in just 27 days to close out the season.

Within that busy schedule are five matches on the road, including three successive midweek trips to Portsmouth, Charlton Athletic, and Southampton.

Neil added: “Away from home is almost a different mentality and we probably need to do slightly better with it. It’s more of a siege mentality when we go away from home and stick together.

“The home fans when we’re away are going to want to spoil our promotion chase. We’ve got a great group of lads here that will run forever for everyone in the changing room. We just need to stick together for the rest of the season and keep trying to get three points each week.”

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