There was a time when they were talked of as the central defensive pairing to take Huddersfield Town forward.

Now the Clarke brothers could come face to face at Wembley in the League I play-off final.

In the red corner is Nathan, skipper of Leyton Orient, who take on Peterborough in the semis.

In the white corner is Tom, a big hit at Preston, who play Rotherham, with both first legs taking place on Saturday.

The Clarkes are two of a string of Town connections in the race to join the John Smith’s Stadium club in the Championship.

Preston are managed by Simon Grayson, who is bidding for a fourth promotion from League I after those with Blackpool, Leeds and Town (via the 2012 play-offs).

His right-hand man is Glynn Snodin, who had the same role at the John Smith’s.

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And Preston’s 23-goal top scorer and player of the year is Joe Garner, who has a less successful stint at Town in loan from Nottingham Forest in 2010-11.

Meanwhile Rotherham’s assistant manager (to Steve Evans) is ex-Town striker Paul Raynor while full-back Joe Skarz is a key player.

And Nathan Clarke’s teammates at Orient include striker Robbie Simpson.

Centre-back Clarke whose 300 Town games included three in the play-offs, says he’s looking forward to another taste of the post-season showdowns.

“I’m excited about two massive games against Peterborough,” said the 30-year-old, freshly named as Orient’s player of the year.

“We’ve had a decent finish to the season, and hopefully that’s given us some impetus going into the play-offs.

“We know Peterborough will be tough opponents, because they can score goals and have previous experience of these type of games.

“But we have worked on our plan and hopefully it will serve us well.”

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