Town host Gloucestershire All Golds for the second time in seven days at Derwent Park on Saturday, in the quarter-final of the competition (ko 2.30pm).

And although Clark is looking forward to a return to his old hunting ground at Barrow the following week, he says the All Golds are his first priority.

“I had some great times at Barrow, and history there as a player and coach,” said Clark.

“It will be great to go back to Craven Park with Town and see what we can do down there. And it will be a massive challenge for us.

“I’m sure the boys will be up for it and, hopefully, we can put in a good performance.

“But our first goal is Gloucestershire again here. That is our short-term focus and we’ll worry about Barrow after that.”

Clark played for Raiders and later had four spells in charge, the most successful being in 2009 when he guided the side to the Championship.

But now, in his first season with Town, he says his team is really starting to respond to his ideas.

“We can see in the field the structures we want to play. When it works, and we do it right, we get some good results on the back of it,” he added.

“I think it’s just our players being more confident in themselves and being patient to build for something instead of trying to score off every play.

“We can take a lot from the last five minutes on Sunday. We had more direction which gave our edges more to play with.

“It’s looking good. It was only the third round last weekend so there’s a long way to go.”