now in league one and under the stewardship of danny wilson, the 2011–12 campaign saw collins establish an effective defensive partnership with fellow centre-back harry maguire, and he was awarded supporters player of the month for september 2011. he scored his first goal for the "blades" in february 2012, in a 1–0 victory over yorkshire rivals huddersfield town at the galpharm stadium. collins remained a mainstay of the defence but united missed out on automatic promotion by three points to city rivals sheffield wednesday, then lost to huddersfield in the play-off final at wembley stadium; the match ended in a 0–0 draw, and though collins converted his penalty his team lost the shoot-out 8–7.