Swindon hero James Collins has admitted his hat-trick against Stoke in the Capital One Cup was one of the best moments of his career.
Robins striker hails Di Canio's influence
Swindon hero James Collins has admitted his hat-trick against Stoke in the Capital One Cup was one of the best moments of his career.
Collins, who joined Swindon in the summer from Shrewsbury, was the star of the show for Paolo Di Canio's men as they caused a major shock at the Britannia Stadium.
The former Aston Villa youngster fired Swindon into a 2-0 lead before netting the winner in the last-minute of extra-time to send the League One side into the third round of the competition.
The 21-year-old was delighted to grab a hat-trick and the matchball, but admits the whole team deserve the plaudits for causing another cup upset.
"It has to be right up there among the best moments of my career alongside winning promotion last season," Collins told
Sky Sports.
"All the players deserve praise because it was a great overall team performance and I believe we deserved the win."
Di Canio impact
Collins was given a playful kick up the backside by Di Canio after his second goal and the striker admits the incident was light-hearted as the manager was keeping the players on their toes.
"I went over to the touchline to celebrate with the manager and he gave me a kick up the backside jokingly to warn us not to switch off and keep our heads on the game," added Collins.
Collins is relishing playing under Di Canio and admits the Italian's will to win in is rubbing off on all the players.
"He is different from other managers I have worked under before, but it is working for us," added Collins.
"He is a real character and he gets the best out of the players and we are all enjoying playing under him as he is so passionate about the game."
Draw
Collins is looking forward to Thursday's third round draw and admits he would love to come up against former club Villa having started his career at Villa Park.
"We are confident we would give anyone a run for their money and we proved that against Brighton and Stoke last night," continued Collins.
"Everyone at the club is looking forward to the draw and hopefully we can get a big team and another nice exciting draw.
"For me personally I would like to come up against Villa as that is where I started my career and I still have a lot of mates there so that would be the dream draw for me, but whoever we get we will be ready to give them a game whatever league they are in."
