Collins: There can be no excuses for Luton this season

Luton striker James Collins believes his side can’t have any excuses about not knowing what to expect in the Championship this season.

The Hatters managed to earn another crack at the second tier last term, after a wonderful run of form once lockdown had ended, taking 16 points out of a possible 27 to stay up against all the odds.

For a number of the players, it was their first taste of life at the higher level, but now they have that year's experience under their belt, Collins thinks an improved campaign has to be the aim.

The forward, who netted a hat-trick during Town's 3-1 Carabao Cup win over Norwich last weekend, said: “It’s nice to start afresh, but we wanted to continue what we did the back end of last season.

"We had a bit of momentum there and we showed really good form in the last 15 games, so we know that we need a good start this season.

“We’ve got our own in-house targets and we know that we need to perform better at times than we did last year and not leave it to the last 15 games.

“But you've got to remember that last year was our first crack at the Championship so we were new to it, but this year we’ve got no excuses.

“We know all about it, we know how tough it is, so we need to make sure everyone’s at it, whoever plays and hopefully be a lot more successful.”

Although losing the likes of Cameron Carter-Vickers and Izzy Brown after their loan spells ended last term, Luton have strengthened in the window, turning James Bree’s move from Aston Villa into a permanent one and added Jordan Clark, Tom Lockyer and Rhys Norrington-Davies.

Town also tied Glen Rea, Kazenga LuaLua, Elliot Lee, Luke Berry and Danny Hylton to new contracts, something Collins was keen to see, as he continued: “I’m delighted, I think the five that re-signed all thoroughly deserved their new contracts.

"They’ve been brilliant for the club since they’ve been here, and I think the new lads that have come in, Rhys who made his debut (against Norwich), he was excellent.

"Clicker (Clark) was brilliant as well and we’ve got people like Kaz who can come on as well and take the game away from teams, so I think the squad is shaping up nicely.”

Town start their campaign at Barnsley this afternoon, a side who like Luton, escaped relegation on the final day, as like Luton, they went on a similarly wonderful run of form after lockdown to do so.

Collins, who scored in the 3-1 success at Oakwell last term, added: "We know that Barnsley are a great outfit, they had a great back end to last season as well and stayed up on merit.

"They’re a good footballing side, so it's not going to be a given by any stretch of the imagination.

"We need to go up there and be right at is as it’s going to be a tough game.”