Football: Clark remembers his lines

Frank Clark turned to Kevin Lock, Brentford's assistant manager, extended a hand and, for a moment, was lost for words. "What do I say?" he thought. Then the words came back. "Well played, bad luck," or something like that. After all, he had heard them often enough this season.

Manchester City's 1-0 FA Cup third-round win at Griffin Park on Saturday was Clark's first victory as a manager in 16 matches and more than four months. As he said afterwards: "I didn't know what to feel. Relief, I suppose."

A winnable home tie with Watford beckons, with the prize a fifth-round tie at home to struggling Middlesbrough. Suddenly Clark's fortunes, after those months of growing misery at Nottingham Forest, and a slow start at City, are looking up. Not that he is getting carried away.

"This could be as big as any other club in the country," he said, "but at the minute we are miles away. We are in the lower reaches of the First Division and we have to get out of there quickly. Our League position is precarious. We have time with the fans, they don't expect us to win the Premier League in two years, but we do not have time on the pitch. The supporters are the thing that give us the chance to be a big club but we have to do a lot of work on the football side."

Clark has already been busy. City were fortunate to beat a team which is only four places below them in the great scheme of things but his influence was clear. While Brentford still looked more of a team, City did at least show signs of organisation. Their shape - a back four, two midfield anchors, two wide men, Georgi Kinkladze in the hole and Uwe Rosler up front - looked shrewdly designed and was largely maintained. The offside trap worked well when attempted.

They also showed plenty of commitment, even the likes of Rosler and Nicky Summerbee, whose attitude has been questioned in the past. There were, however, plenty of errors. Rosler missed chances at one end while Alan Kernaghan presented them at the other. Kinkladze flowered only sporadically and the whole team were careless in possession.

They were rescued by Martyn Margetson, who made several excellent saves and was generally solid. Yet he was only in the side because Tommy Wright, a loan signing, is ineligible.

Margetson was aided by some last-ditch blocks, notably from the atoning Kernaghan, and Brentford's wasteful finishing. The Second Division leaders had seven chances in the first dozen minutes of the second half alone, with Nicky Forster missing four of them.

Clark sat through all this with equanimity. The City challenge may be daunting but their fifth manager of the season, and 11th in as many years (counting caretakers Asa Hartford and Phil Neal) has faced bigger ones. "This is a big challenge but at Orient it was literally the survival of the club which was at stake," he said.

Asked, in that charming media way, why he kept "putting his head in the noose", he responded: "I love the game, that's why. I can't see myself doing anything outside it. Managing is the next best thing after playing. There are bits that are not too enjoyable but that applies to any job.

"I've not had many problems sleeping. It [the pressure] is more bearable at the top of the League but it comes into your mind all the time. You could be standing at the Hammersmith Odeon watching a rock show and you think, `I wonder if we did that on Saturday', but I think the good parts outweigh the bad parts. It's not a bad way to earn a living.

"Even when things were not going well at Forest, my enthusiasm for the game never suffered. When you go 15, 16 games without a win it becomes difficult to deal with, and then the off-field problems exacerbated it, but I never considered getting out of the game. When I left Forest I always intended to attempt to stay in it.

"I left for my own benefit mainly, but I also felt it needed some kind of change, anything, to turn it round. I felt there was enough quality at Forest to stay in the Premier League and a couple of wins would turn the whole situation round. That's what happened for Stuart [Pearce] and I'm delighted."

Clark's task now is to turn City around. He is encouraged by the apparent peace in the boardroom, administrative stability and the promise of money, some now, some soon. "But we're not the only people having trouble spending it," he noted.

There was further encouragement in the goal and the keeping of its advantage. Put away with aplomb by Summerbee, it followed a sweeping crossfield move featuring three intelligent passes from Neil Heaney, Steve Lomas and Kinkladze.

It came immediately after Brentford's purple patch and, for a while, dulled their edge. But City are not yet good enough to shut a game down and as Brentford - powerful, organised and pacy - came back City wobbled. "It was important to hold on," said Clark. "We've given away a lot of leads late on and it is becoming a psychological thing. We could also be fitter."

The Cup remains the icing, League survival is the main aim. And promotion? "I said when I arrived that statistically it is possible. Traditionally there is a club which comes with a late run. If we had won the last two games, as we should have, who knows? Draws are not good enough to go up."

All the same, he was pleased to be in yesterday's draw.

Goal: Summerbee (61) 0-1.

Brentford (4-4-2): Dearden; Hutchings, Bates, Ashby, Statham (Omigie, 82); Bent, Smith, McGhee, Asaba; Forster, Taylor. Substitutes not used: McPherson, Fernandes (gk).

Manchester City (4-4-1-1): Margetson; Brightwell, Kernaghan, Symons, Ingram; Summerbee, Lomas, McGoldrick, Heaney; Kinkladze; Rosler. Substitutes not used: Creaney, Crooks, Dibble (gk).

Referee: M Fletcher (Warley).

Bookings: Manchester City: Brightwell, McGoldrick.

Man of the match: Margetson.

Attendance: 12,019.