There have been a few recurring themes to Luton matches in recent weeks. One of them is that we seem to be drawing a number of them, while another would be that everything has become a bit of a grind. One other thing I’ve been noticing more and more is the growing band of haters that James Collins seems to be attracting.
Quite regularly in the last few weeks I’ve sat in my seat in the Kenilworth Upper and heard the striker criticised regularly, and I’m beginning to hear it more and more at away games too, and I must admit I don’t understand it at all.
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I’ve heard comments ranging from ‘he’s lazy’, ‘he offers nothing’ to ‘he only scores goals’ as if the latter is meant to be a bad thing! Apparently he doesn’t win any headers and he moans too much.
The way some sections of our support would have it he brings nothing to the party, when the reality is actually quite different. Of course I’ve heard this all before about other strikers before him. Steve Howard got much the same said about him in his first few months with us and it was nonsense then, much as it is now.
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I’m not one for statistics in football but Collins is our top scorer this season with 18 goals from 36 matches, and according to this link he has six assists as well. Rather than someone who is lazy he runs the channels all afternoon, and when the ball is played into his feet he holds it up and brings those around him into play, often launching, or continuing attacking moves.
More than anything the 27-year-old is a winner and the importance of that is impossible to put into words. It comes as no surprise to me that of the 20 matches we have won this season, he has started 16 of them. Furthermore we are unbeaten in the games he has scored in.
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Not only is he clearly driven to succeed and desperate to be involved in another promotion, but he is in excellent form too. His goal on Tuesday night was his sixth goal in eight matches and only two men have more goals than him in League 2 this season.
Collins has already been promoted from this division and as things get tight and nervy over the next nine matches that experience will be vital. With that in mind I hope the haters can get off his case for the rest of the season, stop making him a scapegoat that doesn’t exist, and recognise the huge part he plays in our success.
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