Derby County striker James Collins believes it's 'all about getting points on the board' at this stage of the season - no matter how they come.
The Rams made it 19 points from 21 in Sky Bet League One with the 3-1 victory over Lincoln City on Thursday night, in what was their final home game of 2023, and Collins knows the team will need to play better in the coming weeks, but stressed that another win was the most important thing going into the festive period.
The 33-year-old, who scored Derby's third goal of the night, spoke to RamsTV after the final whistle to reflect on his goal and the overall performance of the side.
On the result...
At this stage of the season, it's all about getting points on the board and it will be nice to watch the results come in on Saturday with three points under our belt and up to third, but there's still a long way to go yet.
On the performance...
It was OK at times and I thought we got into some good areas. Maybe our final ball let us down. Conor, with a great finish, got us 1-0 up and it settled us a little bit and we started playing some better football.
The penalty was a bit of a blow before half-time and in the second half we started a bit 'iffy' but once we got the rhythm and Kane Wilson got the second goal I thought we played some really good stuff. There were some good performances out there, especially the back four who I thought were excellent. There are a few positives, but we know we can improve and play a lot better.
On his 13th goal of the season...
It's always nice to score. To score at any time of the game, anywhere, it's what we get paid to do. It sort of sealed the win and we were able to see it out really well after that so I was delighted to get the goal.
On the current run...
It should be 21 points out of 21 because I think we deserved seven wins on the bounce in the league, but six wins and a draw out of seven games going into a busy Christmas period is good form.
Whether we're playing well or not playing well, we're still picking up the results and, in my previous experience, when you do go up, you don't play well every week but you get the results.
We've got some good characters and good professionals in the dressing room that will look after themselves over Christmas and we can go into this busy period full of confidence.
On the upcoming festive period...
Winning breeds confidence in anything you do. The fact that we're unbeaten in seven should give us confidence and we shouldn't fear anyone in this league. We'll be going into the games looking to win them all.
