Euan Williams is looking to establish himself in Mark Bonner’s Gillingham side after a difficult start to his career in Gills blue.

But the Bexley youngster has played in the last two games and is hoping to keep his place on Saturday when SkyBET League Two leaders Port Vale come to Priestfield… 

“We’re really looking forward to the weekend,” Williams told KSN this week. “It is a game against a very good side as they are top of the League and we know that we will have to be at our best to get anything from the game, but I do think that we quietly confident and we are all looking forward to getting back on the Priestfield pitch to go again.”

Port Vale arrive in Kent unbeaten in ten games having won each of their last five and Williams admitted, “We have to rise to those occasions – sometimes the harder the opposition, the more it draws from us and the better that we play, so it will be interesting to see what happens at the weekend.” 

Williams has forced his way into the starting eleven in the past couple of weeks and he told us, “The Swindon game was my Football League debut and it was good to play in the FA Cup last week as well – that’s two starts on the bounce now and my hope is now that for the rest of the season, I can keep playing and keep impressing.”  

“I had the low point of being sent off at Swansea in the Carabao Cup as I thought I was doing OK in the game prior to the red card, but it hit me that I was three games and three weeks without playing and it did take me a while to get going as I was away with Northern Ireland under 21s and had a couple of niggles and stuff when I came back, so I wasn’t really training too much in that period either.”

“I guess it’s taken me another four or five weeks of hard work to be anywhere close to even being on the bench. I just had to stick with it and eventually the chance came and so far, I’ve taken it!” 

“The difference from playing and not playing is massive, so for me now, it is focusing on the next game and trying to have as much of an impact as I can in training and playing games.” 

Williams, who qualifies for Northern Ireland as his Dad hails from Ballymena, was called up by the Irish in September for the first time, and we wondered if the call up possibly came at the wrong time for the midfielder as he tries to establish himself at a new club.

He admitted, “It’s a difficult one to answer as the call up I have had meant I missed a Football League Trophy game that I may well have played in which would have been my first game back after the sending off at Swansea, I had hoped to get some minutes that night.”

“But as it turned out, it was not the case as I was away. I didn’t end up getting any minutes whilst I was away anyway… It was a little bit frustrating but any call up is a really, really proud moment and I am very proud to go and play for the Irish.”

“The international side of football is so different to playing with a team every day with the same players. When you are away it’s a very short period of time to get a team together and get everyone on the same page with how you are going to play.”

“It’s a lot more tactical than being here, but at the end of the day it’s the same game with three points on the line…”