Kirk's pre-season programme has revolved around making him more dangerous in the final third, and Collins is pleased to see the fruits of that work paying off - despite him missing a number of goal scoring opportunities during the games.

Collins said: “Charlie will get goals. He’s a talented player & we’re asking a lot of him, like we are of all our talented boys.

“The young lads don’t always click into action straight away. Look at Nick Powell, first five or six games he didn’t get a goal then went and scored at Wimbledon and the rest is history.

“We’ve done a lot of work pre-season about getting Charlie in the box more and I think we saw signs of that at Altrincham, but it’s just one step at a time.

“Our supporters that have seen Charlie play will know that he spends a lot of time out of the box trying to create, and we’re trying to allow him to do that but also get on the end of some crosses and balls into the area. 

“We’ve got to praise that because there’s no point battering him and saying he’s missing chances if he’s getting in there. If he keeps getting in there, Charlie has got enough qualities to get goals this season.”