The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
On-loan Williams keen to become Saint George
On-loan Fulham man enjoying Premiership life as contracts run down
ST JOHNSTONE 0 MOTHERWELL 0
New dad George Williams has settled happily into family life in Scotland.
And he is open to the idea of putting down football roots with St Johnstone.
The Fulham man’s loan deal at McDiarmid Park runs out in a few weeks, and so does his contract at Craven Cottage.
Tommy Wright has been impressed with the Welsh international and Williams admitted that signing a permanent deal with Saints is an option that club and player may explore in the close-season.
“I’ve said before I’ve loved every minute up here,” he said.
“We live in Dunblane and it’s beautiful. I’m sure he (his son, Carter) wouldn’t complain if he was brought up here.
“It’s a completely different lifestyle off the park and I enjoy the fast tempo on the pitch. It’s exciting and everyone is so determined to win and it’s challenging.
“The boss has mentioned it briefly, but we haven’t sat down and talked about the anything. He just wants me to keep playing games and do well and we’ll see what happens at the end of the season.”
It’s a completely different lifestyle off the park and I enjoy the fast tempo on the pitch. GEORGE WILLIAMS
Carter was only born a few days ago but he’s already taken in his first match.
“My missus (Ella) brought him here today so it was good to see him in the stand before the match,” said Williams.
“He’s a week old today, so I can tell him when he’s a bit older he saw me when he was just a week. He’s a little Scot, born at Forth Valley Hospital.
“It’s been a big change, not as much sleep as I’m used to. I’m looking at about five hours a night if I’m lucky, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
Young Carter certainly wasn’t treated to a classic.
The first half was played almost entirely in front of the two defences and it took until the 45th minute for anything resembling a near-thing – a Murray Davidson 20-yarder that scraped the post.
The second period was an improvement and David Wotherspoon forced a good save out of Trevor Carson with a left foot volley.
“First half was even and was a bit of a scrappy game in general,” said Williams. “It probably wasn’t the best watch.
“Second half we were on top and if anybody was going to win it, you would say that it would have been us.
“In the end it was another point and we can’t really complain about it.”
Saints and Motherwell are in Premiership no man’s land – in no danger of going down and now getting ready for bottom six football.
Williams insisted, though, that the Saints players will keep their foot on the accelerator.
“We want to finish seventh,” he said. “That’s our target. There won’t be any problem with motivation for us.
“Nothing has changed. I want to play as well as I can and we’ll see what happens. I’ve got another mouth to feed at home so there’s extra motivation. I’m just taking every game as it comes.
“I want Fulham to go up. They’ve done so well this season and were unlucky last year.”
Saints boss Tommy Wright said: “You could argue it was two teams with not a lot to play for but we both wanted to win the game.
“I thought we got into some good positions but just lacked the final ball. Spoony’s chance was probably the best of the game.
“It certainly wasn’t one for the purists. but we probably just edged it.
“We want to win games and finish strongly. Players are playing for contracts – whether it’s here or somewhere else – and bonus money.
“I don’t want to lose any games, no matter what I’m playing.
“I’ll make sure they stay motivated. “We’ll introduce more of our younger players to give them more experience as well.”
Saints now have a gap week but for Motherwell there is a Scottish Cup semifinal up next.
Ryan Bowman said: “We knew it was going to be a difficult game. The surface wasn’t great so we knew the service up to the strikers wasn’t going to be as it usually is. We had to adapt to that.
“It was a physical game and we were prepared for that. We’ve come out unscathed with no injuries so that’s good.”