Training for success
Wednesday, 5th Jul 2017"It is on my shoulders to perform as well as I can to make sure that there is no reason to drop me."
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Full back Ryan Williamson has found pre season hard but feels it is all worth while. He told the website:-
"All the boys are flying and ready to go. The majority of the work has been with the ball, we have done our share of running which is the dreaded part but when we have done as much ball work as we have, as a player you can`t ask for much more.
"As hard as the work is you are playing football and that`s very enjoyable. All the boys will say the same that if you have a session of just running it is very hard mentally but when you have the ball out it makes that grafting that bit easier.
"We did our testing on day one and all our scores are up from last year. It is clear that everyone has done a bit of work over the summer to make sure that we have all come back in really good state. We are all raring to go to hopefully have a successful season."
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The 21 year old is working hard to make sure that he can make his mark in the pre season friendlies.
"We are all buzzing for the friendlies. We are looking forward to the game against Hibs on Thursday, then we have Raith and then we are straight into the cup games.
"We are all ready. As so many people say you can do as much training and running as you want but it is all about game fitness. We are looking to perform as well as we can in the friendlies, get the fitness levels up, the sharpness up and make sure that we are ready to go come the Elgin game."
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For his age and given that he missed the majority of the 2015-2016 season through injury, Ryan has remarkably still managed to start 57 matches for Dunfermline and come on as a sub nine times. Even last season injury prevented him featuring from October through to March. He continued:-
"It was a very frustrating year and this year I am concentrating on doing as well as I can in training, just trying to impress the manager and the management team every day. I am hoping to try and cement that right back slot because I know that there is going to be competition. It keeps everybody on their toes but hopefully I can play week in week out and the way I see it, it is up me to nail down that slot.
"It is on my shoulders to perform as well as I can to make sure that there is no reason to drop me."
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The 2017-2018 Championship will include newly promoted Livingston and Brechin City but will be without local rivals Hibs and Raith Rovers. Being from Kirkcaldy Ryan always looked forward to the Raith games.
"We don`t see any reason why we cannot go a challenge the league. Last year the start of the season killed us a bit, we had too many draws. We did a lot better in the second half of the season.
"If we can start well, get the confident up early then we can`t see where it takes us. Our aim is to go and win the league next year or gain promotion by whatever way possible.
"We know that it will be tough, every game will be tough. There are a lot of good teams in there, there will be a few hard places to go. We just need to concentrate on ourselves, take it one game at a time and try and have as successful campaign as possible."
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The Betfred Cup fixtures schedule has been kind in that the potential lengthy trips to Elgin and Peterhead have been avoided and the away games will only be at Tynecastle and Methil. Ryan discussed the shape of the draw and the opportunity to progress beyond the group stage:-
"We fancy our chances. It is Hearts who have been given the two midweek away games up there. We will take it one game at a time, we fancy our chances as we would against anyone.
"The competition starts with Elgin and if we can get a positive result that day we will have our tails up straight away and hopefully get the confidence flowing to kick on from there.
"The games will not be easy. East Fife are a good side but we are confident that we can beat anyone with the quality we have got in the dressing room.
"We just need to get these next two friendlies under our belts and get the match fitness up, the sharpness up. Come the Elgin game hopefully we will ready to put a marker down for the season."
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