Having had to lift his players up following Friday night’s dramatic loss at the Hawthorns, a relieved Collins was left delighted in watching his players overcome another challenging tie, but insists that whatever happens in Monday’s final, he cannot be prouder of his young players.
On 240 minutes of football in five days
“To play 120 minutes Friday and Tuesday on a first-team pitch for these young boys is not easy. Especially having lost on penalties on Friday, I thought what a monumental effort that was from us. I was worried about how we would respond tonight because I knew it took a lot out of our legs and our minds.
“I just said to them in the changing room that it’s a privilege to take them. I thought they looked tired, but kept going, dug in, and again responded to the set-back of the equaliser. Similar to West Brom, they weren’t near our goal too much, but they were always a threat up front, and the front players were lively.
“But I felt we finished the game strongly, should have scored two at the end of the game, which would’ve helped. Christian [Marques] and Chem [Campbell] had a header and a one-on-one, Chem had already hit the bar, Lee [Harkin] had already hit the post. I’m a 43-year-old man, I’m experienced and I’m thinking, ‘Is this happening again here?’”
On more penalty shootout drama
“To go to penalties and score all five penalties after Friday, whether it was some of the same players or some different players, just to know how that affected them to step up and score five penalties, it’s absolutely brilliant.
“Penalties are a bit of a lottery, and I thought our penalties tonight showed real courage. They weren’t whacked, the were confident and placed, hit with belief, and I think – especially after Friday – we thoroughly deserved that.
“Now we’ve got a few days rest, because they’ll need it, and then we go for a final and see if we can get promoted. But I’m absolutely delighted for the boys in there. Absolutely delighted.”
On finding a way to win
“The whole thing they’ll take forward and that’s the joy of the job. We want to win, we want to get promoted and we want to win cups. We’re at under-23 level and near to first-team level, so of course that’s a big part of it.
“We try and create opportunities for them to learn to get near first-team level, and the last four days, we couldn’t have written it any better. 120 minutes, lost on penalties against our local rivals. Can they come back from that? Can they respond in front of our home crowd? It then goes to 120 minutes again. Can they dig in? Can they find a way to win the game? And we did.
“It’s brilliant from a development point of view and hopefully they’ll take this into their careers and learn something from it. If that’s the case, then we’ll have done something right.”
On the relief of reaching the play-off final
“I got quite emotional. I was surprised. I’d have been gutted for them if they’d have lost again. That’s what I was worried about when I was stood on the touchline when we went to penalties. I wasn’t worried about people missing, I was thinking about how I’m going to pick this group of players up if they lose twice in four days on penalties.
“When they didn’t, that relief, just for our care of them and our love for them. Whatever happens now, we just want to win on Monday. We’ll do everything in our power to win, but to put Friday to bed a little bit with a win tonight, they showed unbelievable character and I’m absolutely delighted for them in there.”
On preparing for the final
“There’s a time to play on the emotion of it and there’s a time to take the sting out of it. That’s banished Friday and now we’ve got to prepare professionally and properly for a final on Monday, see if we can get the tactics right and win the game, hopefully in 90 minutes!
“If not, it’s more learning and more developing. We’ve lost one football match since December and I think that’s phenomenal at this level and the level of games they’re playing at.
“But whatever happens, I’m chuffed to bits for them. They needed that tonight, we got it, and now we can really go into the final with our chests puffed out, ready to go.”
On the threat Stoke pose
“They’re a good side. I think they finished second last season and they missed out in the play-offs like us. This season they finished similar, coming third, and they’re a good side at this level.
“They’re well organised, talented and not the Stoke that you think of, it’s not all crash, bang, wallop, they play some really good football and they’ve deserved to get to this stage. It’ll be a really tough game, and we had a really tough game with them here the other night when we went two down, got it back to a 2-2 draw, and we could’ve nicked it at the end.
“But I’m sure they’ll be disappointed that they didn’t hang on to a 2-0 lead, so it’ll be a really close and tight game, something we’re all looking forward to, and hopefully we’ll come out on the right side of the result.”
