Peterborough United's stand-in skipper believes it's time for the team to kick on

It’s been a stop-start season for Posh so far with six wins and six defeats in 15 League One outings leaving them in 12th place albeit just five points off the play-off places. Three of the next four League One matches are at home though and Posh have been excellent on their own patch since losing the first two League One games of the season at the Weston Homes Stadium.

Since then Posh have won six and drawn two of eight competitive matches at home. Last time out they thumped Cambridge United 6-1 and there was frustration in the Posh camp at being denied the chance to immediately build on that result by the postponement of last weekend’s scheduled fixture at Charlton Athletic. Posh have not won two League One games in a row since winning at Shrewsbury Town and Exeter City in August.

"It wasn’t a good time for us to have a break as we wanted to keep going after the Cambridge game,” Collins, who is expected to lead the side out against Reading at London Road on Saturday, told the Posh Plus service, said. “But on the other hand it was good to get a break and the chance to go home and visit family and friends before Christmas when it gets really busy for us.

"The Cambridge game seems a long time ago now, but we now have home games coming and we will look to win them all as it’s time to kick the season on. Similar to last season we had a difficult start which is going to happen as it’s basically a new team, but we have found some rhythm and the front boys are on fire.”

Collins is top of one League One chart. He has picked up seven yellow cards in third tier game, plus one in the EFL Trophy, and he’ll serve his second suspension of the season if he reaches 10 cautions in the first 37 games of the League One season.

"I can’t afford to think about that,” Collins added. “It’s obviously not an ideal situation, but it is part of football. If I change my game it will hinder my performance because of my game is winning the ball and defending and sometimes you have to concede a foul to stop the opposition scoring. I’ll do my best to stay away from 10 yellows though, but they can with the territory when you play in midfield.”

Posh follow the home game with Reading with a home FA Cup tie against League Two side Notts County on November 30. Then it’s League One games at home to bottom four teams Burton Albion and Crawley either side of a short trip to Northampton Town.