Collins insists Luton players believe they can still stay up

James Collins celebrates scoring from the spot against Birmingham on Saturday

Saturday’s 2-1 home defeat against Birmingham City means Town are now four points from safety in the Championship, and have had their odds to go down slashed to 1/7 by league sponsors Sky Bet.

The loss means Luton have now taken just a single point from their past seven games, but ahead of a trip to fifth placed Nottingham Forest on Sunday, Collins was staying optimistic, saying: “Of course we can (stay up). There’s 19 games left, we’ve played everyone in the league now, we know what we’re coming up against.

“We just maybe need to have a bit more confidence in ourselves that we are going to stay up.

"I believe it, the lads believe it, the staff believe it and that’s our main aim now for the rest of the season.

“It’s doable, you never know when you do get that win, you might kick-start the season.

"That’s what we need, we need to find that win, wherever it may come and I think when that comes, everything gets a lift.

"The fans get a lift, the players, the staff and then you go into the next game with a bit more confidence, that’s our aim, we need to get that win as quickly as possible.”

Collins does have experience himself of a relegation battle when part of the Hibernian team in the 2013-14 season that dropped out of the Scottish Premier Division on penalties after a play-off defeat against Hamilton.

He doesn’t want to go through that again, saying: “Since I’ve been at the club we’ve been used to winning games, especially at home, with back-to-back promotions.

"It’s (losing) not a feeling we’ve had too many times, but I’ve been in this situation before in Scotland and I know how tough it is, what it takes and what it requires.

“So I think we need to sit down in the week and really address it because there’s 19 games left, we need to stop that rot quickly and try to move up the table.

“We’ve got to give credit to the league we’re in though.

“We’re playing against better players who have got more know-how in this league than us, but we need to learn quickly as games are going to run out and we need to make sure we get some points on the board.”