Clark has bright future - Petrov

Rookie defender Clark made an impressive debut alongside Carlos Cuellar in Sunday's 2-0 home win over Fulham after Curtis Davies was ruled out with a recurrence of his shoulder problem.The 19-year-old may now have to take a back seat following the arrival of Collins and Dunne from West Ham and Manchester City respectively.But Petrov believes the Academy product has already shown enough potential to be earmarked as a player who can make his mark long term at Villa.The Bulgarian international said: "Ciaran Clark has got a big part to play. He was very impressive during pre-season."He played well in the Peace Cup over in Spain and against Fulham he acted like he has already got 100 games behind him."It is great to see young boys with such confidence and ability, especially from the youth team, and you want to see players like that break into the first team."He was excellent. Gabby (Agbonlahor) was the man of the match for us - but Ciaran was not far behind him. I really mean that."Villa have lifted the early season gloom via back to back wins over Liverpool at Anfield and the Cottagers.But Petrov is aware they need to sustain their form throughout the entire campaign after a late fade last season cost them the chance of competing in the Champions League.He said: "If we want to get back into Europe again, we need to play well and do very well all the time."We need more consistency throughout the season."Dunne and Collins are expected to make their Villa debuts in the derby clash with Birmingham on September 13.

Source: Team_Talk