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Dom Roman

@DomRoman

COLLINS IS BACK!

The band is slowly getting back together (and before you ask Nico Lawrence is very unlikely to come back!) and we are tuning up early for 23-24. It’s a warm welcome back to Lewis Collins, who after being released by Newport, follows Jack Stobbs’ lead by signing permanently after a decent loan spell at the end of the 2022-23 season.

Collins joined at the start of Feb and his early days at Plainmoor were interrupted by an injury in the FA Trophy, plus he was also rotated around the wing positions and upfront as the Gulls suffered a horrible run of February/March form. But during that time the Welshman did his bit and still bagged goals against Southend and Solihull (the less said about those games the better). As expected, he was an enthusiastic runner on and off the ball, and whilst he struggled sometimes to get into games, Lewis’s proactive attitude was still an improvement on many of last season’s players.

A groin injury kept him out of the Gateshead away game, but to his credit he bounced back and played all but 7 minutes of the final 9 fixtures. During that period Gary Johnson had finally grasped a winning formula and some of that revolved around Collins and Stobbs taking up wing back roles in a return to 3-5-2. Far from ideal you’d have thought for a man with ‘striker’ written firmly on his football CV, but Lewis showed his professionalism and did a great job on the left for the Gulls.

His most memorable moment came away at Scunthorpe on 1st April. His attacking instincts coaxed him into making a well-timed run off of Aaron Jarvis, who fed him nicely into space on the left hand side. Lewis kept his calm and beat the goalkeeper with a smart strike with his unfavoured left foot, and that ended up winning the 3 points. This was a perfect example of what Gary Johnson will hope to gain from him next season, pace and fitness to support others, intelligent running off the ball and a finish as well. He’s not afraid to have a pop from outside the area either, and should get more opportunities to pull the trigger in the NLS.

Collins goal at 2.40

Torquay were to win the next three games and with confidence high the Newport man was very much involved, standing out especially in the away triumph at Maidenhead as the Gulls shone brightly in front of the Yellow Army masses. Of course the final three games saw United come down with a bump, and un-suprisingly Collins’ lack of defensive expertise was exposed a little against the likes of Chesterfield and Wrexham. But even at Chesterfield with United looking decidedly knackered, he was the only one showing anything and the only one who looked remotely like scoring (until a late McGavin volley), making some well-timed runs when the rest of them could barely jog!

All that effort wasn’t enough in the end, but both Jack Stobbs and Lewis Collins had brought a higher level of professionalism to the club and the wing back roles. Collins is a team player who works hard for his colleagues, and has shown versatility that will no doubt come in handy next season. I’m sure he’d prefer to play just off of Aaron Jarvis if pressed, but he could also play to the left or right of Jarv in a three, on the wing or at wing back. I get the feeling you can place him in any of those positions and he’ll do a job, it’s just frustrating guys like Dawson, Stobbs and Collins weren’t recruited last summer instead. But what’s done is done!

We’ve already had a couple of cracking Welshies at Plainmoor in the last few years in the form of Joe Lewis and Connor Lemonheigh-Evans, let’s hope Collins kicks on next season and makes Newport County regret letting him go. He looks highly motivated and brings different assets to a squad that’s building nicely for a tilt at the National League South title, and most importantly going by his 16 games for United so far, he looks like a sound signing. Good luck Lewis.