COLLINS PRAISES COLLECTIVENESS IN BREWERS SQUAD

BRAD Collins praised the spirit of the Brewers squad after they battled valiantly against Oxford United to earn themselves a precious point.

John Brayford was dismissed with a mere 12 minutes on the clock, making the magnitude of the result even greater. One man who made an enormous impact was goalkeeper Collins, producing a string of fine saves.

On the performance, he said: “You always know it’s going to be tough when you go down to ten early on, especially because they came at us as well. I thought the boys were great and it’s a great clean sheet, I’m proud of them,”

Collins’ performance resulted in an eighth league clean sheet of the campaign. However, he recognised the contribution of those protecting him, saying, “I could’ve had a lot more to and there were some vital blocks in there which was great from Bucko, Fadz and the whole back four.”

It was a spirited showing, the kind of togetherness vital to avoid a relegation race and the Chelsea loanee believes the Burton squad has this in abundance. Jake Buxton replaced Brayford, Collins commented on his captain and how the side stayed settled.

“They weren’t causing us major problems, so they weren’t getting in behind every time. The gaffer said more of the same and you’ll be alright. They’ve all played together numerous times. You can see when Bucko comes on there’s no change, so nothing’s going to change there and they’re all ready to step in.”

Two new additions from the transfer window featured, Collin Daniels and Josh Clarke, to maximum effect in the defence, highlighting how the side has established themselves despite the altercations.

“You can tell today he (Clarke) did really well,” spoke Collins on his fellow team mates. “Both have settled in lovely and they’re good personalities as well, that’s what we need in the changing room.”

On his own game, the ‘keeper is relishing his run as first choice between the sticks, mentioning, “It’s another learning curve for me and I just look forward to every game. It was always going to be a tough ask, but I feel like I’ve fought for it and luckily I’ve got the number one shirt at the minute, but anything can happen in football.”

It was certainly a pedestal result, yet Collins wont let this distract him from the bigger pitcher of climbing the league ladder.

“We don’t focus on that really, we just focus on the next game and try and get a win and three points. When it comes to it, we have more than enough in the dressing room to stay up.”