Sir Alex lucky omen for Ryan

“There was no better time to get my first goal than in front of him. So hopefully he puts a word in at Man United!”

Dundee United is on the mind of every Pars player and fan ahead of Tuesday night’s play off but Ryan Williamson is hopeful that another United might have noticed his impact in Saturday’s home win over Dumbarton.

Former Dunfermline Athletic striker Alex Ferguson was at East End on Saturday and 22 year old Ryan had his picture taken with Sir Alex ahead of the match. When the young full back broke his goal scoring duck in his 111th match for the club, Ryan was elated and joked:-

"If he can come on Tuesday night that would be good as well. He is the lucky omen. It is great to see these legends around the club

"There was no better time to get my first goal than in front of him. So hopefully he puts a word in at Man United!”

Ryan made his first team debut as a seventeen year old and was pitched into regular selection in 2013. Injuries in November 2014 and August 2015 kept Ryan out of football for a huge chunk of two seasons but despite that, to have made 101 starts for the club by his age is a reflection on just how good a player he is.

Although he has put the ball away in penalty shoot outs, scoring from open play has eluded him until Saturday. Forever optimistic Ryan had promised his team mates and coaching staff that the time had come for him to get on the scoresheet.

"I have been saying it for a while. Against Brechin a couple of weeks ago I said `right I am scoring today`. When I was walking off the park at half time Sandy and the manager walked over and I said `don`t worry I will score in the second half.

"Coming out for the second half I said that to Higgy and it was never in doubt really. It was a great feeling as you can tell that from the celebration, I have waited a while so hopefully it is not another 111 games before the next one.”

Naturally a goal celebration is something new for Ryan and he admitted that his team mates had taunted him with speculation that they would ever witness such a phenomenon:-

"The boys have been asking me for a while, is the top coming off and stuff like that? I have never really known what I would do since it is my first goal since Under 20s football. My first professional goal so it was a great feeling when the ball hit the net. It was just a case of running off and throwing my arms in the air.

"It has been too long, understandably I have taken all the stick and the boys have been on at me. John Potter, Kenny Murray and all the coaches have been asking me if I was going to score my first goal before I reach thirty!

"I am 22 and it has come after five years in first team football. I got there eventually that is all that matters.

“Delighted from a personal point of view but as a team we had a job to go and do against Dumbarton and we did that well. We are buzzing going into the play offs and hopefully we will go out and get the club back to where they belong."

Getting that goalscoring monkey off the back has topped up what has been a great season for Ryan who was called up to Scotland U21s and now has the opportunity to be an important member of a Dunfermline side seeking a return to the Premier League. He continued:-

"It has been a season to remember personally but from a collective point of view that is us in the play offs. The manager has told us how brilliantly we have done to get there but we kick on from here.

"After that St Mirren game it wasn`t exactly working well for us but we have been on a great run of form and we go into Tuesday night high in confidence. We are confident that we can come through the tie.”

The Premier League door is open and Ryan acknowledged that it is up to the players to go and get the club back there.

“I don`t see why we can`t. I think with the quality that we have in our dressing room we are more than capable. We shouldn`t fear anyone going into the play offs.

"If we play the way we know we can then I think we will do alright for ourselves. At the moment we are trying not to get too carried away and look too far ahead. It s just a case of taking one game at a time, keep the head down and hopefully we will come through the tie.”

“With the quality that we have got we can really beat anybody on our day. We will prepare right over the next couple of days and be ready to go on Tuesday. Hopefully we can put in a big performance to give ourselves an advantage going into the second leg.”

So can lightning strike twice in four days and Williamson be on the scoresheet for consecutive matches?

"I have always said that once I get the first one they would start going in, you can expect another” he joked, "I hope so anyway!"

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