Collins believes Luton made a statement by finally beating a top six side

James Collins wheels away after scoring his hat-trick against Peterborough

It was the first time that Luton had tasted victory against a side in the top six, after their seven previous attempts ended in three defeats and four draws.

They also lost 2-1 at seventh-placed Doncaster as well, but there was no stopping Town this time around, thanks to Collins’ hat-trick, as on the victory, he said: “What an afternoon for everyone involved in the football club.

“The lads in there are buzzing especially as we’ve come up against a tough side.

“To win 4-0, and score three goals for me personally, it couldn’t go any better and I think we’ve made a bit of a statement.

“To beat a top six side who are doing as well as Peterborough and they’re actually doing better away from home than they are at home. So to put four goals past them is just credit to the boys.

“It’s been coming to be fair, me personally I think if we had 11 men on the pitch last week at Sunderland, I think we’d have gone on to win the game, but it’s a great performance.”

Meanwhile, interim boss Mick Harford knew it was vital to claim three points against one of their rivals, with Posh still very much in the mix to go up this term.

He said: “We’ve said to the players, if you want to finish at the top of the league, you have to beat the teams at the top of the league.

“We’ve played Peterborough and we’ve got Portsmouth coming up, and if you want to get above them, they’re the teams you want to play to beat them.

“They’re (United) a decent outfit, they’ve got a lot of maverick players who can turn games in a second, with (Ivan) Toney and (Lee) Tomlin and (Marcus) Maddison and (Siriki) Dembele.

“They’re a real, real attacking threat, but we quelled that threat and went on to win the game comfortably, so it’s nice to beat them.”

After seeing the results from elsewhere with leaders Portsmouth losing at Oxford and Sunderland drawing with Scunthorpe, it further strengthened Luton’s position in second.

Harford added: “All we can do is concentrate on what we can do and if we keep winning games, that’s all we can do.

“It helps if they don’t win, or they get beat, so overall, it’s a good day for the club, absolutely.”