By Chris Barney
South Wales Evening Post

Matty Collins is relishing his battle for the right-back slot at Swansea City after making his long-awaited league debut.

The former Fulham midfielder endured a frustrating season at the Liberty Stadium last year after making just a brief appearance in the FAW Premier Cup.

But the Merthyr product was handed his first league appearance by Roberto Martinez at right-back due to Angel Rangel's absence through injury.

Collins was given the nod ahead of Alan Tate in the 2-0 defeat against Charlton Athletic.

And after showing a great deal of patience in the past 12 months, Collins is hungry for more first-team football - no matter at what position - after tasting his full debut at The Valley.

''It was good to get out there and get some minutes under my belt,'' said Collins, who was given the job of marking former Arsenal trainee Jerome Thomas.

''Obviously I am disappointed with the result as I think we played them off the park, but personally I will take a lot from it.

''It doesn't get much bigger than this. I relished the challenge and I will keep my head down and work hard. I will just concentrate on myself as there is competition in this squad for every position.

''I am really enjoying playing at right-back. I played there for Fulham at times and a lot of the things have come naturally. I have got full belief that I can hang on to my position.''

With Rangel likely to be sidelined for at least another week, Collins is battling with Tate for the position for Nottingham Forest's visit to the Liberty on Saturday.

In a contrasting 12 months, Collins is desperate to earn another start as he looks to answer Martinez's full-back problem.

And despite being part of a defence that leaked two goals from set-pieces, Collins feels his team-mates will become a stronger unit.

''Having seen the boys achieve what they did last year was a little frustrating for me because I didn't play a part,'' said Collins.

''Now I have got a chance to prove myself in the first team. The gaffer has given me a chance and I want to kick on from here and keep improving. We will just have to wait and see what happens.

''The goals at Charlton were disappointing - they were cheap goals. We let them score rather than them coming because of good play. We've been working hard in training on set-pieces and it was a huge blow to concede as early as that.

''We have to make sure that we aren't sloppy like that in future because it shouldn't happen. But we will address that in time for the next game.''