Clark keen to grab Villa chance
ByPA Sport Report
Published 25/11/2014 at 22:37 GMT
Ciaran Clark has vowed to take his Aston Villa chance alongside Jores Okore as boss Paul Lambert prepares to put his faith in the rookie partnership.
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The defensive duo will start Villa's basement battle at Burnley on Saturday after playing together for the first time against Southampton.
Ron Vlaar and Philippe Senderos are sidelined for a few weeks with calf injuries while Nathan Baker is out until the New Year with a knee problem.
Denmark international Okore started his first game since September 2013 in Monday's 1-1 draw with the Saints after recovering from cruciate knee ligament damage.
And centre-back Clark, who has only made five appearances this season, insisted the pair can cement their places in the side.
"Sometimes when you get your chance you have to make it count. I think me and Jores did just that," said the 25-year-old.
"I just went out there as if it was another game to be honest and I think Jores did fantastically. He's been out for 14 months and to come back in and do so well is brilliant.
"He's been brilliant in training and it was just about him biding his time. I thought we did quite well. Hopefully we can improve on this now.
"All we can do is play well and keep training hard and play well in the games coming up.
"If I'm picked to play hopefully I will keep performing and play at the same level as Monday. Who knows what will happen from there."
Okore and Clark are Villa's only fit recognised centre-backs for the trip to Turf Moor after Vlaar and Senderos were injured on international duty.
Monday's point lifted them two clear of the Barclays Premier League relegation zone and up to 16th but the second-bottom Clarets will go above Villa if they win on Saturday.
Villa are winless in eight games but, after drawing their last two, Clark insisted they can arrest the slide.
"We stopped the run against West Ham and that was a big point for us," said the Republic of Ireland international. "Coming into the Southampton game we were fairly confident.
"We always knew it would be a tough game because of where Southampton are and we would have taken a point before the game.
"To lead for so long and come off with one point is disappointing but we'll take confidence."
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