By Albatross
August 12 2005

The Sunderland Connection Part Umpteen! Hartlepool United have announced that Mackem defender Neill Collins is coming to Victoria Park on a half season's loan. The Scot has signed in time to be in contention for a debut against Doncaster. Collins will be 22 at the start of next month, and signed for Sunderland from Dumbarton a year ago. He'd started off at Queens Park, and was still a part-timer when he had a two week trial at the Stadium of Light and impressed McCarthy enough to persuade him to pay out £25K for his services.

Collins seems to have adapted to the pro game pretty quickly - less than two weeks after signing up he was making his first team debut againt Reading. He went on to make eleven league appearances, and was selected for Scotland u21s as well.

While he didn't let anyone down, McCarthy doesn't believe he's the finished article just yet - and with the arrival of Alan Stubbs with the Black Cats his opportunites for first team football are severely limited. While the Mackems boss isn't prepared to let him go permanently - or at least not yet - he has decided to allow the 6'3" defender out on loan in the hope that more regular football will allow him to develop further. It's a mark of how highly Collins is thought of that McCarthy thinks he's capable of playing in the Championship - and reports suggest that he's not alone in that assumption after a string of impressive appearances for the reserves as well as not doing much wrong when stepping in to the first team last season.

Will Collins go straight into the side? If he does, who does he replace? It's possible of course that he will partner Nelson to allow Ben Clark to step into midfield or even move to Left Back; or we may see a switch to 3-5-2. Whatever the situation, we now have another good option in defence - even if only on loan. He's arrived in time to face Doncaster - will he make his debut tomorrow?