A fresh Killie deal while staying with Saints suits Waters
CALUM WATERS didn’t need to work hard creating a positive spin on the news that Kilmarnock had no wish to recall him to Rugby Park this month. A new Killie contract to 2021 and the chance to keep playing with St Mirren for the rest of this season did that job for him, providing the full-back with the perfect outcome from talks at the break-clause stage of his loan.
The 23-year-old defender has made 18 appearances for Jim Goodwin’s side since being farmed out to Saints in August.
There was an opportunity for James Fowler, head of football operations at Kilmarnock, to bring Waters back to his parent club for the second part of the campaign.
However, as Kilmarnock and their new boss Alex Dyer were content with on-loan Queens Park Rangers capture Niko Hamalainen’s contribution, Waters will remain in Paisley.
‘I’m delighted to be staying at St Mirren because I’ve really enjoyed it and I’ve been playing,’ said Waters, who spent a season with Goodwin at Alloa in 2016/17.
‘I wasn’t too sure, especially with Alex Dyer getting the Kilmarnock manager’s job, if I’d need to go back.
‘I spoke with James Fowler and he said I’d probably be better here for the next six months because I still have another year at Killie after that.
‘I’m more than happy to do that anyway. I want to be playing every week because I think that brings the best out of me.
‘The gaffer here has been brilliant for me. He’s a great guy and easy to talk to and I can’t thank him enough.
‘He’s shown faith in me, keeps the place positive at all times and I want to try and reward him by putting in some good performances.
‘It took me five or six games to get up to speed here because it’s really my first season in the top league. Hopefully, by the time I go back to Killie, I’ll have learned a lot and maybe I’ll be able to start there next season.
‘I know the left-back at Kilmarnock is on loan there for the season so, hopefully, after a full season here, I can go back with more experience and be ready to step in.’
Waters and St Mirren return to action on Saturday with the visit of Broxburn Athletic in the William Hill Scottish Cup.
Goodwin is leaving nothing to chance and had planned to make a personal check on the East of Scotland Premier Division side yesterday at Linlithgow Rose until the fixture was called off due to a waterlogged pitch.
‘We will be big favourites going into the cup game — and rightly so,’ said Goodwin. ‘But we are not going to underestimate them. ‘They’ve sold 1,400 tickets, so there might not be many people left in the town by the time the game kicks off — and fair play to them for that.
‘It’s fantastic. It will be a great atmosphere and I’m pretty sure they will be coming to try to cause an upset.
‘So it is really important that myself, the staff and players don’t go into it expecting an easy ride. We have to approach it properly.
‘We have to give them the exact same attention to detail as we do any Premiership team we face.
‘We genuinely want to approach it in the correct manner and go as far as we can in the competition.’