Sunderland conceded late to fall to a defeat in their first fixture of the Premier League season against Ipswich Town
Jack Clarke admits the relief of scoring his first Premier League goal took over as he condemned his former club to defeat on the opening day of the season.
Clarke capitalised on an error from Sunderland's defence in the 90th-minute to secure the 2-1 win, a significant moment both for himself and his team. The winger realised his Premier League dream when moving to Portman Road two years ago, but they did not win a game until November and the 25-year-old endured a frustrating campaign on a personal level.
He admitted after Saturday's game that he had initially not planned to celebrate had he scored against his former club, a moment he admitted felt 'surreal'.
“It’s sort of bittersweet [scoring against Sunderland]," Clarke said.
"Even now, it’s not sunk in too much in terms of how surreal of a moment it was. I’d had it in the back of my head coming in to today that if I did get the opportunity and score, I’d try to be as respectful as possible. I don’t know if the moment or the adrenaline took over.
“It felt like it had been a long time coming. I didn’t quite manage to do it last time in the Premier League, but probably had a few opportunities to do so [score]. It was more relief than anything else, and hopefully it can help me and the team kick forward."
Clarke said Sunderland were serving as inspiration to the promoted sides this season having surpassed all expectations in finishing seventh last time out.
“It’s been a long seven weeks waiting for the opportunity to play back in the Premier League again, and I’m so glad that we took it," Clarke said.
"Obviously, it took us a while to get going last time we were in the Premier League, although I don’t think the schedule really helped us with that. We sort of felt like we were good in games, but were coming out on the wrong end of certain scenarios. It’s a ruthless league – you give teams half a chance and all of a sudden, you’re walking out in despair. We knew we had to put that right coming into this season and stay in games as long as possible. We did that today.
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“I think all of us newly-promoted clubs will be looking at what Sunderland did last season and wanting to do something similar," he added.
"Obviously, the last time we came up, all three of the promoted clubs went back down. But if you look at last year, Sunderland and Leeds managed to do what many people thought was the unthinkable nowadays. Sunderland were above and beyond what anybody could have expected. It gives everybody belief that we can do it and it can be done. It’s what we’re striving to replicate.”
Ipswich face Leicester City in the EFL cup in midweek before travelling to Old Trafford for their next Premier League fixture.
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