James Collins hopes there are many more Luton goals still to score after the striker reached the 50-goal mark with his header at Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.
The forward, who joined for £250,000 from Crawley in 2017 with Town in League Two, has twice finished as Towns’ top scorer in campaigns where they won back-to-back promotions the Championship.
And the 28-year-old has adapted to the second tier quickly by firing five goals in nine league games, plus a striker on his Republic of Ireland debut earlier this month.
Collins said: “On a personal note, I’ve got to be proud of that and it’s a pleasure to have played that many games for the club, and score this many goals for the club. I hope there are many more to come.”
Izzy Brown provided the assists for both Collins and Matty Pearson’s headers and Collins said: “When Izzy gets half a yard and puts the ball in the box, the gaffer wants me in the six-yard box to score. I’ve noticed Izzy getting half a yard and I just gambled and thankfully for me he’s put it right on my head.
“I’m out there to do a job but when we have got the ball out wide, I’ve got the freedom to get into the box and that’s what I like to do.
“It’s a tough place and they’re a very good side with some great players. The lads showed unbelievable character to come here and get a result. All the other things that come with it, they’re obviously great, but to come here and get a win, a much-needed win is brilliant. It’s the most pleasing thing.”
For 33 minutes plus an added six for stoppage time, Luton had to defend resolutely against Rovers to keep them out.
“I think you’ve got to expect that when you come away from home. They’ve got some great players going forwards and that’s when you’ve got to show resilience and dig in. Maybe a few weeks ago we’d have conceded like we did a few weeks ago at QPR, but we’ve learnt from that game and we managed to keep a clean sheet and go one up. I think we’re improving week by week.”
Hearts were momentarily in mouths when Bradley Dack scored what looked to be a leveller for Rovers, but Collins believed the Hatters would get the right decision.
“I knew he was offside because I was the closest one two him and I as a couple of yards in front him,” said Collins, adding: “I think the decision was to see if he touched it in or not. Once the linesman knew that I as quietly confident that he’d give offside.”
Other than that, Town’s defensive kept Blackburn at bay.
“The back four and Simon were excellent,” said the striker, adding: “We won our headers, we competed, we stopped crosses. I’m a little bit disappointed with the goal we conceded. I thought maybe we could’ve got a bit more pressure on the ball, but they’ve got quality and you get punished if you don’t do it.
In the second half, we showed a great defensive performance and that’s what we’re going to need going forward if we’re going to win games.”
The triumph was Town’s first for two Championship games.
Collins said: Any win is a confidence boost because we’re the new kids on the block and people don’t really know much about us, so we’ve got to be disciplined and confident that we can go and get results at home and away. We’ve got our aim for this year and we’ve got to keep winning games to achieve that.
“We’ve got two more games and then a couple of weeks’ break with the international break. We’ve got two big games coming up, one on Wednesday on TV, which will be a great game back at Kenilworth Road.
“Then, they don’t come more difficult that Derby away in the Championship. We’ll look forward to Millwall and then deal with Saturday after.”
