IRELAND defender Ciaran Clark was back on Tyneside yesterday to find it was ‘business as usual’ in preparation for the trip to Newcastle United despite the absence of manager Rafael Benitez.

The Magpies are keen to follow up victory over West Ham United a fortnight ago by impressing at Swansea City tomorrow, even though Benitez has not been on the training ground this week.

There is also a strong chance he will be missing at the Liberty Stadium, as he recovers from surgery on an infection which has prevented him from returning from the North-West following his operation.

Clark has missed the majority of the week at Newcastle anyway because he has been on international duty, but he was back at the Benton training complex yesterday working with the rest of the group.

And he said: “We have just got on with things. We have all done the drills that we have done before, so we know what we need to do. We have to hope Rafa rests up well and he will be back soon. We wish him all the best and he is back soon.

“It’s business as usual. We are taking everything as it comes at the moment, getting the training right and make sure we are at it again. Now it is a matter of working hard and building up to the game and hopefully we will be ready on game day.”

Clark was at Aston Villa seven years ago when Gary McAllister had to fill the breach when the Frenchman had a health scare.

Being without the manager clearly means differences in terms of who leads sessions and teamtalks, but the Newcastle defender feels a positive result can be achieved in South Wales if Benitez doesn’t make it.

Clark said: “We don’t know at this stage whether he will be there or not. Of course he will be a miss. We know he would want us to focus on the game and know our jobs, we have to put the right performance in to get the points.

“Everyone is still in high spirits and working hard. We are hoping he will be back soon but we are getting on with things and working hard for Sunday.

“We will go out there and do the things we have been doing since I have been here, the coach has just put on a session and we will go out there and do it. Get focused for Sunday.”

Clark has returned to Newcastle frustrated with Ireland’s defeat to Serbia in midweek, which has heightened the chances of Wales qualifying for the World Cup over the men in green.

But the former Villa defender, who is an option to play left-back tomorrow in the absence of the injured Chancel Mbemba, believes he can soon recover even if he does have Aleksandar Mitrovic around to remind him of Serbia’s crucial win.

The 27-year-old said: “It was a disappointing result against Serbia but hopefully we can get the result in the next two games and if we do we could be alright.

“It’s certainly not the end for us even though it was a disappointing result, it’s just one of those things for us in football. You are not going to get the result every week, you have to pick yourselves up and go again.

“You have try to take the fact out of it that you are up against a team-mate like Mitro and try to play your normal game. It is difficult because you work with someone every single day and know each other so well, but you have to focus on the game and take that out of your mind. We both did that and there were no problems between us.”