Neil Clark has urged his Exeter Chiefs team-mates not to waste all their hard work this season by beating his former club Bristol this evening.

The hooker recently signed a contract extension with the Chiefs and fully intends to be playing for them in the Premiership next season.

To do that they have to beat Bristol over two legs of the Championship final, with the first match at Sandy Park tonight.

Clark wants his side to make home advantage count and take a decent lead with them to the Memorial Ground next Wednesday for the second leg.

And after working hard since pre-season training in June to get themselves 160 minutes from a place in the top flight, Clark is keen not to let it go now.

"We're going out there to win, there's no two ways about it," he said. "We don't want to come off second best, we want to be in the Premiership.

"We've fought long and hard this year to get to where we are and we don't want to throw it away now. It's been a long season and there's now so much riding on this.

"There are so many backroom staff and you've only got to look at the facilities – this is all in place for the Premiership.

"It's not been built to be a weak, steady club playing week to week. We want to be in the top flight and we deserve to be there. Hopefully we can put a performance together that will warrant that."

Clark has already had a taste of life in the Premiership as he helped Bristol win promotion in 2005, two years after joining them from Exeter. However, a series of injuries curtailed his spell in the top flight and the 28-year-old is now desperate to get back there to prove himself at the highest level.

"Unfortunately you can't predict when you're going to get injuries, that's part and parcel of the game," he said.

"I want to be back in the top flight, I said when I first came back to the club I'd love nothing more than to get back in the Premiership with Exeter.

"That's one of the main reasons why I've decided to commit to the club, not only because I love it here but also because I feel we've got the potential and everything in place to be a top-flight club.

"I won the Championship with Bristol and I would love nothing more than to do that with Exeter. To do that against Bristol would be even better."

Exeter will be roared on by a capacity crowd tonight as club officials have confirmed the game had sold out.

Clark hopes the players can give the majority of the record 10,000 fans at the match something to celebrate.

"We've tried to build Sandy Park as a bit of a fortress, teams don't like to come here," he said. "The crowd is going to be very big and if they get behind us hopefully we can give them something to cheer about."

In order to do that, Clark knows every Exeter player must do their bit. He said: "We say that if everybody does their job from one to 15 we know we'll be in there with a chance.

"We can't for one second think we're going to get a walkover because Bristol have proved why they're in the final, they're a great side.

"We need to be firing on all cylinders and we need to be doing the right things at the right time. If we get the forwards working well and the backs working well hopefully we'll get the result we deserve."