Pre-Match Thoughts: Collins Buzzing To Be Back Amongst It

Derby County striker James Collins is delighted to be back in the team and back among the goals after his three-game leagye suspension came to an end last week.

Collins' goal in the 4-2 home win over Bristol Rovers on Saturday marked his fifth of the season in the league, keeping him as the Rams' top scorer in Sky Bet League One this term despite David McGoldrick's hat-trick.

The former Luton Town frontman sat down with RamsTV ahead of Tuesday evening's trip to Morecambe and expressed his delight in returning to action and more.

On Paul Warne…

Before he came in, I was friends with a couple of his ex-players who all said I’d love him and he’d be good for me.

He’s good friends with one of my old managers in Nathan Jones, who also text me and said I’d love working with him.

So far, the lads have been really happy with him.

The drills and the sessions have been really good in training but they’ve been really tough. I think he’s got a lot of pleasure out of seeing me suffer in training lately but in fairness it was me that got sent off against Port Vale because if I hadn’t, then I wouldn’t have had to do it.

On his scoring form under Warne…

It was more relief scoring on Saturday because when I did get sent off, I’d scored in the game and felt like I was playing well and scoring goals. I went on to miss three matches through something stupid from myself but to get back in the team on Saturday and get a goal – it made me realise what I’d been missing.

On Saturday’s performance…

We know what we’ve got in the dressing room. We know we’ve got some real top quality players and I think you saw on Saturday it looks to be all coming together really well. Saturday was an all-round good performance, good result and I think it was probably the best all-round performance we’ve had this season.

On putting a run together…

We’ve got to go into the game against Morecambe with the right mentality. They are obviously near the bottom of the league so if we go up there thinking it’s going to be an easy game then we’ve got it all wrong.

It’s a tough place, I’ve played there a few times and we need to put a run together now and trying to catch that top six. Tuesday is our game in hand and that will put us into the top six if we win, that’s an incentive in itself.

Our away form has been quite good since the gaffer has come in so we need to keep that going.

On the upcoming away games…

It’s our job, that’s life. I honestly don’t mind traveling away from home, I like spending time with the lads – it’s good for team spirit and comradery.

We’ve got five away games on the bounce and a lot of different games in there from National League in Torquay United to the Premier League in Liverpool, but it’s all exciting.