FORGET the riches of being a Premiership footballer, life has been far different for Danny Collins in his first season in the English top-flight.

The lack of a win bonus this term has certainly contributed to that.

Sunderland's victory at West Brom last weekend may have been the second time in the league that Mick McCarthy's men have celebrated a three-point haul, but not for Collins.

The 25-year-old was not in the side that beat Middlesbrough back in September, so the triumph at the Hawthorns six days ago really was his first experience of receiving a little extra cash in his weekly pay packet after a Premiership success.

"I think the lads had scrapped the paperwork before last weekend," joked Collins. "I haven't spent it yet but it was nice to get the win finally and to pick up the win bonus along with it. The lads had forgotten what one of those was. Hopefully we can pick up a few more in the coming weeks."

Collins may have been speaking in jest, but he would certainly love to experience many more winning feelings between now and the end of the season - more to reward loyal supporters for sticking with them during a difficult season rather than financial gain.

Tomorrow's trip to Brentford represents an opportunity for Sunderland to forget about their failings in the Premiership and lift spirits with a healthy FA Cup run.

It was only two years ago the Black Cats reached the semi-final of the competition only to be defeated by Championship rivals Millwall at Old Trafford - at a time when Collins was plying his trade in the Conference with Chester City.

Buoyed by the result at West Brom a week ago, when Anthony le Tallec's run into the box resulted in Steve Watson scoring past his own keeper for the only goal of the game, Sunderland should be full of confidence.

Still 13 points adrift of safety in the league, spirits in the Sunderland squad remain high with hopes the final few months of the campaign will bring with it more cheers than jeers.

"We deserved it at West Brom," said Collins. "We had a few days break over Christmas and when we came back everyone seemed refreshed. We were working hard and it wasn't as if we were getting beat by three or four goals, it was by the odd goal.

"The performances were good but we were coming away with nothing. At West Brom it wasn't our best performance but we came away with the points.

"Early on we had games where we should have had more points on the board, like drawing with West Brom and West Ham. But there's no point crying about it and we have picked ourselves up.

"We had one bad month when we lost to Birmingham, Aston Villa and Portsmouth and that has cost us dearly. Apart from that we haven't played too badly."

With George McCartney on his way back from a serious ankle problem that has kept him out of action all season, Collins' place as the side's regular left-back is likely to come under threat.

But the Wales international feels he is in a far better position now to challenge McCartney for that role than he was before the start of the campaign.

"I feel I have done OK. To play in the first team is what I wanted and to have played 11 games on the trot has been great for me," he said. "Ideally I would like this club to stick around at this level for a little longer because I'm loving it here.

"I had to bide my time and wait for my chance but feel like I have really started to adapt to now. If we can get ourselves out of this mess then brilliant.

"George is the number one left-back and I won't be happy if he walks straight back into the team at my expense. I have to try and remain in the team and produce performances that will convince the gaffer I deserve my place."

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