Hatters skipper hails goalscoring mentality of Luton match-winner Collins

Town skipper Sonny Bradley was quick to praise the mentality of match-winner James Collins for his strike at Oakwell on Saturday which earned the Hatters a precious three points.

It had looked like the contest would finish all square until Collins pounced on a flick header by Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu to hammer an effort beyond Jack Walton and into the top corner.

It was his fourth goal of the season having already netted a hat-trick against Norwich City last weekend and the third successive game he has scored at Barnsley for Luton.

The strike came after Collins had blazed a chance over the bar in the first half from Harry Cornick's excellent cross, but Bradley felt it was the mark of a striker of his quality that he was able to shrug off that miss and come up trumps for Town once more.

He said: “I’ve only seen it live, but it was a great header from Pelly, he leaps, I don't know where it comes from with Pell, but he’s put it on a plate for Collo, who smashed it in the top bin.

“I said to Collo at half time, 'you owe me one now,' because the first half, I think he knows, a player of James’ quality, an international football player, it was on his left foot, I still feel like he should score, do a little bit better.

“But that’s one thing with Collo, he’ll miss a chance which to him is no problem.

"He’s mentally strong, reset, and I said to him at half time, ‘you’re going to get another chance, so we’ll keep a clean sheet, go and get your goal.’

“That’s exactly what he did, and we leave with all three points, he’s got his goal and we’ve got our clean sheet.”

Collins finished with 14 goals in his debut Championship season last term, and is now on 63 strikes from just 141 appearances for the Hatters after Saturday's cracker.

For Bradley, he knows having a forward of such prowess upfront means Town are always in with a shout of winning, saying: “All the time James Collins is on the pitch, you’ve got a chance of scoring a goal, from anything.

“Like you see today, we stay in the game, it’s 0-0, a bit cagey, give Collo half a chance and I think it is half a chance, I don’t think it’s clear cut,and he’ll put it in the top corner, it’s 1-0 and it’s finished.

“He’s been outstanding, a great professional and to have players like that is really good and it’s helped us win the game today.”