Clark made his first start since the second Saturday of the season, when his horrific clash with West Brom keeper Sam Johnstone’s head-high knee left him out cold on The Hawthorns pitch.

Speaking pitchside after lasting the full 90 minutes at the Vitality Stadium, the 28-year-old midfielder summarized the game by saying: “It was sloppy goals conceded and we missed some good chances, especially in the second half when we were on top.

“It’s disappointing to lose but there were a lot of positives to take. When you come here you can’t miss chances when they come because very rarely are you going to get two or three chances. We had quite a few, but we’ve got to take the positives from the game.

“These are top of the league for a reason and in the second half we were on top for a large period of the game, so we’ve got to take it into Wednesday now.”

Having fought back from 2-0 down to take a point from Blackburn a fortnight ago, there were hopes of a similar return on the south coast, especially when Lloyd Kelly turned Luke Berry’s low cross into his own net as the Hatters piled the pressure on in the second half.

“Very rarely do you get two or three comebacks in a season, and we’ve done it in the last few weeks, which is always nice, but obviously it’s only a point on the board in the last couple of games when maybe we deserved more,” said Clark.

“When you’re coming to the top of the league, you can’t concede two in the first half and give yourself a mountain to climb. These are a top, top side. We played well in the second half and we’ll take that into Wednesday night. We need to get a win on the board now.”

On the injury sustained six weeks ago, Clark added: “The concussion was fine. I was only out for a week with that, but I had a fracture in my collarbone which was a bit of a slow burner really. I thought I’d be back a bit quicker, but it took its time to heal. I’m very happy to be back now.”