Club

JAMES COLLINS ON SURVIVAL HOPES |"WE HAVE GOT TO FIGHT EVERY DAY"

Town forward James Collins insists that the players have "got to hit the ground running on Saturday" if they are to avoid relegation back into League One next season.

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The Hatters are six points from safety when the Championship campaign restarts this weekend after play was halted since March because of the coronavirus pandemic.

After getting a flavour of the division this season, Collo is keen to stay there and avoid an immediate return into League One. Captain Sonny Bradley revealed his determination to stay up when talking to the press a couple of weeks ago, which the 30-year-old agrees with.

“I can’t speak for the rest of the lads but I can definitely echo that personally, because me and Sonny have probably had quite a similar route, played at League Two and League One level most of our careers and we’ve worked so hard to get to the Championship," said Collins.

“I think now is our chance to stay in it. We have got to fight every day, every game to make sure that is the case by the end of the season.”

Prior to the stoppage in play, the Hatters had acquired 11 points from six games which left them in good shape to fight for their place in the league, but the enforced break has meant that form is ‘completely gone’ according to the former Crawley Town striker.

“A lot of things have happened since then," he said. "Obviously, the manager going and lads having ten weeks off, but we’ve got to hit the ground running on Saturday and try and find a new bit of form, try to get some wins on the board and try to get as many points as we can.

"I think the form we showed leading up to the break, it did show we are capable of it.”

German football has been played for the last couple of weeks and indicates that home advantage isn’t quite as frequent in empty stadiums. The Town players and the rest of the Championship will also be subject to those measures, but Collins believes it works both ways.

“I don’t know if that’s just coincidence but not playing in front of a crowd, Kenilworth Road might not be as intimidating to people coming to our place, but I don’t know if it will make a difference or not," he added. "I suppose it could give us an advantage going away to teams as well. Obviously, when we go to Elland Road, we’re not going to be playing in front of 40,000 fans geeing them on. It’s whatever way you look at it, it will either go in your favour or not.”

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