AARON Collins is playing for his footballing future over the next seven weeks as he aims to fire Newport County AFC to the League Two play-offs and secure a new deal with Premier League-bound Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The 20-year-old re-joined his hometown club on loan from Championship champions-elect Wolves in January but had to wait until Saturday to make his first start for County since 2016.

And Collins grabbed his chance with both hands with a man-of-the-match performance in the 1-1 draw with Luton Town at Rodney Parade.

He created the Exiles’ goal for Josh Sheehan after only two minutes and crossed for Robbie Willmott to head against the post.

It was a dream start for Collins and a nightmare afternoon for the Hatters’ highly-rated right-back Jack Stacey.

“I’m happy to get my first start and in the first half I just got at him [Stacey] and did what I can do,” said Collins afterwards.

“I was happy that I made an impact in the first half – Sheehan scored after I hit that shot and the keeper parried it and we were unlucky with Robbie’s header that hit the post.

“I thought I did well in the first half. In the second half it was a hard game. There were a lot of long balls and I didn’t get the ball as much as I would have liked but it was a good point.”

South Wales Argus:

Collins’ first start came after a late cameo off the bench at Yeovil Town but before that he had to sit and watch 12 matches.

“The last two months have been frustrating,” he admitted.

“Obviously I would have liked to have come in and hit the ground running but it’s been hard.

“Finally I’ve got my chance and hopefully I’ve proved that I’m good enough to stay in the team because I want to play every game.

“There’s nine left now and we’ve just got a good point against a great side in this league so hopefully we can go on and get into the play-offs.

“We want to get three points every game and we’ve got six at home and only three away so we’ve got the chance to pick up points and get up there.

“There’s no reason why we can’t. We’ve got a great squad, we’ve proved that [on Saturday] and hopefully we will push on now.”

And Collins is hoping that he can catch the eye of his parent club Wolves between now and the end of the season to earn another year at Molineux.

“I’m out of contract this summer but there is an option [of another year],” he revealed.

“When I left [County in January 2016] I signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with an option in their favour.

“So in the next month or two they’ll let me know if they’re keeping me on or not.

“This is a great chance to prove that I should be playing and hopefully I go into the next nine games, do what I can do and we’ll see if Wolves reward me with an extra year.”

Collins will be aiming to put struggling Crewe Alexandra to the sword at Rodney Parade this weekend but teammate Calaum Jahraldo-Martin (below) will miss the match.

South Wales Argus:

The 24-year-old is on international duty this week following his call up for the Antigua and Barbuda national team.

The Benna Boys will be taking part in friendlies against Bermuda tomorrow and Jamaica on Sunday as they prepare for the upcoming CONCACAF League of Nations tournament, which begins in September.

Jahraldo-Martin has made just four appearances for County so far in an injury-ravaged season but he has 17 caps and three international goals to his name.

He made his international debut against Anguilla in the 2014 Caribbean Cup qualification matches and scored within eight minutes in a game Antigua and Barbuda went on to win 6-0.