Ryan legs it into recognition

Call up to the Scotland Under 21 squad this week has made all the hard work to get back to his promising early form worthwhile for Ryan Williamson.

The Kirkcaldy born lad, who suffered a serious knee injury in 2014 and then a leg break in 2015, had to put in tedious hours of rehabilitation just to get back into training.

The player who came through the Dunfermline Youth system after spending his early years with Celtic, made his first team debut in August 2013, getting a start in November that year before becoming an ever present in the period up until the club went into administration.

In total Ryan made 22 appearances in season 2013-2014 but failed to avert the Pars relegation through the play offs. During the next two seasons injury set backs meant that Ryan would only make 26 appearances over that period.

Firstly, he sustained a dislocated knee cap in the home game against Stirling Albion putting him out from November 2014 until February 2015. Then he was on the way back making five starts in a team that produced five straight wins at the beginning of the next season before breaking his leg right at the end of the League Cup at Forfar on 18th August 2015.

That season he returned to play a part in the final four games before the end of Dunfermline`s title winning team. Last season injury, though not as serious as before limited his appearances to 19. This season he has played every minute of all the Pars 13 matches in league and cup.

His form has been sensational with opponent after opponent taken by surprise with his speed and almost unbelievable ability to reach balls that appear destined to go out of play and cross lethal balls in that his strikers have been happy to convert.

This form has clearly caught the attention of U21 manager Scot Gemmill enough to call Ryan back into an international squad. Ryan and team mate Lewis Martin were included in Ricky Sbragia`s Scotland U18 squad in 2013 but Ryan was never capped. Now the 21 year old is hoping to grab the chance:-

"In years gone by I have been around training camps and provisional squads but just missed out at the final hurdles. I am glad that my hard work and my good start to the season has been rewarded.

"The gaffer phoned me on Tuesday morning at home and told me to bring my passport in because I was in the Under 21s. I was delighted to hear that."

The U21s defeated Holland at the last international break and will now face England and Latvia.

"They are two massive games, regardless of what happens it will be a big experience for me. I will just go there and try and do as well as I can in training to impress and hopefully get some game time.

"It was a bit of a shock, I like to think that I have been doing well and impressing but I have not been getting carried away just concentrating on doing well and improving.

The feeling is in marked contrast to his low emotions at times during his troubled career at Dunfermline during which time he had contemplated giving up football altogether. His father, former Pars defender Andy Williamson, had to talk Ryan round and he too has derived huge pleasure from this international selection. Ryan continued:-

"The last few years have been hard and definitely not gone the way I`d have wanted them to go. When I get rewards like this it makes all the hard work coming back from those injuries more than worth it. I am just hoping to kick on, keep on improving and hopefully lead to more success."

Ryan is appreciative of the belief that the management and coaching staff have invested in him. He praised his team mates too:-

"Having someone like Kallum Higginbotham playing in front of me makes my job a lot easier as well. He helps out a lot defensively and the way I look at it, going forward he has got me into these positions in the final third. He has played me in where I have ended up setting up goals. I like to think that we complement each other well and we have formed a very good partnership that has helped my confidence.

Three points from Saturday`s match against Dundee United would top off a very good week for Ryan:-

"We know that it is going to be a hard game. Dundee United were the pre season favourites with the signings that they have made and the money that they have got.

"We know that with the boys that we have in that dressing room that we are more than capable of going and getting the three points and being right up there at the end of the season."

Related Stories

• Scotland U21 call up for Ryan
• Pars duo in international squad v France
• Brechin City 0 Dunfermline 3
• Preview Dundee United
• April 2016: Ryan feared unemployment