Huddersfield Town's Peter Clarke focused on form rather than final position

May 1 2010 by Dougie Thomson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

FORM, not final position, is on the mind of Peter Clarke as he gears up for Town’s League I play-off challenge.

The 28-year-old skipper is determined to go into the semi-finals having helped Lee Clark’s side close their regular campaign with wins at home to Colchester today and away to Exeter next Saturday.

If that takes Town into the top four, therefore clinching home advantage for the semi second leg, all well and good.

But Clarke casts his mind back to last season and Scunthorpe as a reminder that a team’s placing after 46 games doesn’t always dictate what will happen next.

Nigel Adkins’ men made the play-offs, and dashed the hopes of a Tranmere side including Town midfielder Antony Kay, with a last-gasp goal in their final-day meeting with the Birkenhead side at Glanford Park.

Cliff Byrne’s equaliser clinched a 1-1 draw and ensured the Iron, rather than Tranmere, finished sixth, and three weeks later the skipper was celebrating at Wembley after 3-2 final victory over Millwall fired them to the Championship.

“That just goes to show that anything can happen,” said Clarke, who experienced League I play-off semi-final disappointment with Southend against Doncaster in 2008.

“Scunthorpe scratched their way into the play-offs but ended up getting promoted, and it’s all about how you respond to the challenge when you get there.

“The only certain thing is that you have to beat two of the other three sides involved to succeed, and our aim is to go into the play-offs with momentum.”

Town’s last two games, the 1-0 home win over Millwall and 6-0 hammering of Stockport at Edgeley Park, mean they are second only to Southampton in the League I form table with six wins in their last eight games.