Town defender James Collins returns to former club Aston Villa tomorrow and believes the time could be right to pile on the agony for a side struggling to find the form needed to mount the promotion challenge expected of them.

Currently 13th in the table, they are seven points adrift of the play-off places and have triumphed just once in their last eight Championship fixtures, although to be fair to Dean Smith’s team they have drawn five and therefore only been beaten twice.

But averaging a point per game is not going to get them where they want to be and, just like Town but for different reasons, they need to improve quickly to avoid huge disappointment as both clubs’ respective ambitions come up short.

Asked if he felt Villa could still qualify for the play-offs, Collins said: “I think it will be tough for them. Look at their squad, which I know well from being there just before Christmas, and with the names they’ve got up there it’s probably the best in the Championship, no disrespect to anyone else.

“It’s a tough crowd to please up there because they probably believe they should be winning the league, or at least reaching the play-offs, but it hasn’t worked out.

“I don’t know if the pressure’s getting to them or not, but I’m only concentrating on Ipswich Town and doing everything I can to pick up three points from every game, no matter the opposition, every time we go out on the pitch.

“I’m surprised to see Villa where they are at the moment. Financially, it hasn’t gone as well as it should have done over the last couple of years, but they are a club that deserve to be in the Premier League with their fanbase and facilities.

“I’m sure they will get it right. They’ve got a great manager in Dean and it looks like they are going in the right direction, although they haven’t been too good in recent weeks and hopefully we can take advantage of that.”

Collins earned himself a lot of plaudits a few weeks back when, having signed a contract with Villa through to the end of the season, he decided to cancel it because he sustained a calf injury that was going to sideline him for a few weeks.

He added: “It’s a great club and I was lucky when they got me up there for training. Steve Bruce was sacked and Dean Smith came in with John Terry. They could quite easily have said ‘No thank you’ but they let me train there and I got offered a deal, which I accepted.

“It was in the very first training session after that when I felt something in my calf and it just didn’t seem right. I’d only just signed and I could have been out for four or five weeks with the calf injury.

“I’m not the type of person just to sit there, go in the gym and take the money, so I thought it was the right thing to do because they had been so good to me over the years.

“I was there for three years, 2009 to 2012, and they were great, not just to me but also to my family.

“There were plenty of highlights for me, like my first goal for the club against Chelsea. We won 2-1, me and Richard Dunne both scored and my goal was the winner. That first year I was there under Martin O’Neill was probably the best year I’ve had in football.

“We were up there, challenging for a place in the Champions League, but we ended up finishing sixth.

“We also got to the Carling Cup final (losing 2-1 to Manchester United) and the FA Cup semi-final (losing 3-0 to Chelsea). They were both at Wembley and it was just a great time to play.

“I didn’t realise until I got there what a huge club it is and I went into a team that included James Milner, Ashley Young and Stewart Downing.

“Unfortunately, Martin left and it fizzled out after that, but it’s a time I look back on with great memories.”

Photos: TWTD/Action Images

Pecker added 19:06 - Jan 25 Fingers crossed. Will travel more in hope than expectation.
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