Penalty hero James Collins says Luton players had more desire to claim derby day victory than rivals Watford, but refused to take the credit for netting the winner with his first touch.
Town’s top scorer came off the bench in the 78th minute to stroke home from the spot and hand the Hatters their first win over the Hornets at Kenilworth Road since 1993, when the striker was two years old.
As he’s done for all but one of the last 11 Championship games, Collins watched on from sidelines, where he saw Town swarm all over Premier League hopefuls, the Hornets.
The hosts should’ve been a couple of goals ahead before half time and even though Watford improved slightly in the second half, they managed no shots on target all game, whereas boss Nathan Jones said Luton’s performance was one of the best yet.
“It’s a derby and I think it showed that our lads wanted it more than theirs. Maybe a few of their players had not seen a pitch or a stadium like this before, no disrespect, but that’s the truth of it. I think some of them didn’t fancy it and we took advantage of that and won the game.
“We could’ve been one up after the first minute. Bez (Luke Berry) had a chance, but the whole game, from the first minute to the last, I think we were outstanding and it was a pleasure to watch from the side.”
Collins watched as the man keeping him out of the starting line-up, Elijah Adebayo chased down a slack backpass, beating keeper Daniel Bachmann to the ball and getting scythed down to win a penalty.
But the January signing could not continue as a result of the collision and Collins was sent on to take the spot-kick, sending the stopper the wrong way and writing himself in the Hatters folklore with arguably the most cherished goal of his 71 for the club.
Asked if he’d ever scored with his first touch, Collins said: “No, never. It was obviously a strange situation, but I knew that as soon as the penalty was given and the shout was that Elijah might not be able to carry on, then I knew I had a chance of coming on and taking it.
“The gaffer asked me if I wanted to take it and I said ‘yes’. Fortunately for me I managed to get the headlines but I shouldn’t get any credit really because all the hard work was done before I came on the pitch.
“The lads were absolutely outstanding and were by far the better the team.”
But with the chance to win the contest as he made a beeline from the bench to a penalty spot, which had been intentionally scuffed by a Watford defender Francisco Sierralta, asked if he had any nerves, Collins said: “Not really. A penalty’s a penalty.
“Don’t get me wrong, I was a little bit nervous but that’s what I thrive on and enjoy. Anyone who takes penalties, whether it be a first touch or in the 90th minute when you’ve been playing the whole game, it’s always nerve-wracking.
“But I knew I wanted to take it. I knew I’d score and I was just happy that the opportunity arrived for me to put it in the net.”
And the 30-year-old revealed that part of what made him so confident was the intelligence he’d been given from Luton staff about how Bachmann might dive.
“I practise every week and I get stuff sent to me that I look at for goalkeepers, so I always knew where I was going to go and I knew where he’d think I’d go, so I’m just glad it worked out well,” Collins said.
“You want any advantage you can and the backroom staff are excellent here. They feed you with a lot of information and there’s not many things you don’t know about an opposition in football these days.
“Any football club in all the leagues will have that information, so to have that information helps and I knew where I was going to go.”
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