JACK Clarke has warned Luton that Sunderland are in no mood to settle for what they've already achieved this season and are desperate for a second successive Wembley play-off final appearance.
Sunderland won promotion to the Championship through the League One play-offs last season and in their first season back in the second tier, Clarke admits nobody expected the Black Cats to be challenging to go up again.
But there's always been belief in the Stadium of Light dressing room and having drawn twice with Luton this season, Clarke says there'll be no fear ahead of the play-off semi-final double header against the Hatters.
"We have had two good results against them this season, we’ve drawn twice, and we’ll build on that," said the winger, who took his goal tally to the season for 11 with the third at Deepdale as Sunderland crushed Preston to sneak into the top six in dramatic fashion.
"We are going to go off and take a bit of time to prep and recover for the game on Saturday.
"Obviously we want to go out and set our stall out, win the games and get ourselves to Wembley, but we’re not thinking that far ahead yet.
"We will go into Saturday fully prepped and see what the game brings."
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After joining in January last year, Clarke helped Sunderland get over the line and win promotion from League One, and says this season - especially since Tony Mowbray's appointment - they've shown how far they've come in a short space of time.
"I think the club as itself needed to get out of League One, whereas this year we’ve just taken each game in our stride," said the former Leeds and Tottenham winger.
"We as a group knew how good we could be and what we set out for ourselves, but I don’t think anyone expected us to finish in the top six.
"It’s just a great feeling for us as a club to show how far we’ve actually come and as a group I think we thoroughly deserve to be in there.
"Us as a group we always thought we could get in there and deserved to be in there.
"To get in there and cement our spot in there is a big achievement for us as a team, a big achievement as a club, especially with the amount of injuries and setbacks we’ve had this year."
Sunderland's top six finish is all the more remarkable considering the brutal injury list they've had to contend with, with Dennis Cirkin the latest player on the treatment table after hurting his ankle at Preston and looking likely to miss the first leg at the Stadium of Light on Saturday evening.
Sunderland, though, will find a way to cope, says Clarke, as they have done all season.
He said: "It doesn't matter where we play or what 11 are on the pitch, everybody is going to give their all regardless week in, week out. I think that has got us to where we are today."
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