Collins: '˜I want to achieve something great at Crawley'

With the right ingredients of a good start and staying clear of injuries, he believes Reds can gain promotion back in to League One.

And the centre forward who has scored 87 goals in his career, knows exactly what it takes to gain promotion from League Two.

He achieved it a staggering three times - twice with Shrewsbury Town, firstly in 2011 and again in his second spell in 2014, before doing it again last season on loan to Northampton Town.

Collins wants to bring his shooting power to his new club which helped The Cobblers become clear champions last season while on loan from his parent club Shrews.

He has already shown an eye for goal netting twice in his pre-season debut against Three Bridges, despite not finding a way through against Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.

The former Aston Villa striker said: “I’m a striker who likes to score goals, I’ve scored goals pretty much everywhere I’ve been.

“So I’m looking to continue that and just get in the box and work hard for the team and hopefully achieve something great this season.

“Anything is possible if we get the team together and we have a good pre-season and stay injury-free, get a good start and take the momentum on from there.

“In League Two, anything’s possible, so I think we have as good a chance as any.

“There’s nothing better than to get promoted out of any league, whether it’s League Two or whatever, it’s always nice. That’s the long-term aim for the club and this year or next year, it’s definitely achievable.”

Collins was swayed towards coming to Crawley by head coach Dermot Drummy.

He was impressed by the Reds’ boss, who arrived at the Checkatrade Stadium in April, and his plans for the forthcoming season.

Collins, 25, put pen to paper to join the club on a free-year deal after Shrewsbury released him from his remaining one-year contract.

The former Northampton forward is an exciting prospect for Crawley, having played for three different promotion-winning sides and has scored 32 goals in the last two seasons.

Collins said: “I spoke to the manager and I spoke to the owners and their views and look on to the future really persuaded me to come here and I’m glad to be a part of this club going forward.

“The manager told me about the way he wants to play and he was really interested in signing me and so was the owner, so it is always nice to be wanted and I’m glad that I’m here now and I’m ready to get going.”

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