All midfield player ASHLEY WILLIAMS has wanted to do since childhood has been to play for his local football team and at 17 years of age he has already established himself as an important member of our first team squad.
Ashley considers himself as a late starter – it was not until the age of nine that he began playing football
regularly. After one game of mini-football for Spencer against Eveswell United his potential was obviously spotted by his opponents because he switched loyalty to play for Eveswell until moving into the 11-a-side game a couple of years later.
Ashley, who lives in then Royal Oak area of the city, said: “Everyone has a dream and like lots of boys I always wanted to play football. It is only a few who get the chance and I think you have to have plenty of determination.”
He attended the Newport Soccer School of Excellence at the various age levels and also attended the Gwent Centre of Excellence at Risca so he was well known to our Academy team of Glyn Jones and Roger Skyrme.
He said: “I was already a pupil at Hartridge so I always planned to progress to the Academy. To be honest I was so keen to join that I don’t know what I would be doing if I had not been successful – I didn’t have a back-up plan!”
All young footballers have to learn to take disappointment and setbacks in their stride and Ashley has had to bounce back a few times already. Last season was his first at the
Academy and with our youth team and he started with an injury that took two and a half months to clear up.
He said: “I did well when I was substitute in my first few games and for the last seven or eight games I made the starting line-up. I did not think I would get a chance with the first team though this season.”
Having travelled to Grantham for our Premier Division defeat last August when he was a non-playing substitute, he made his debut when he replaced Gareth Phillips with just over a half an hour remaining of our home league game with Weymouth. He made an impression against the early pace setters and helped us rescue a point with a late Allan Stevenson goal.
Ashley had to wait until our heavy home defeat against Hinckley last December for his next chance but earned a starting place at Tiverton in the following game where he gave a performance which belied his youth and inexperience.
His next big disappointment came at Merthyr on Boxing Day when he was shown a second yellow card in the second half. The problem had been caused with his first booking early in the game for an offence which was not clear to Ashley himself or to most observers.
He said: “I have no idea why I was booked the first time after I had been pushed by Jason Donovan and grabbed the ball for the free-kick. When I was sent off I felt in pieces and sat in the dressing room hearing the crowd but not knowing what was happening.”
Again though Ashley has shown strength of character by bouncing back from the disappointment and he was rewarded with the offer of a playing contract which he has signed, tying him to the club until the end of next season. He will also have the benefit of ‘full-time training’ for another season as he concludes his B Tec Sports Science course then.
Ashley pays tribute to his parents Andrea and Trevor who are not often able to see him playing because of work commitments, but as he feels under more pressure to perform when they are watching he is happy that their visits are infrequent.
His first Welsh Schools under-18 international call-up came last month in the game against the Republic of Ireland at Carmarthen and he earned a man-of-the-match billing, a feat he has also achieved a couple of times already with our first team.
Ashley said: “When fans support you it gives you confidence and I have found that supporters and older players have been very helpful to me. You can’t use youth as an excuse if you don’t play well and I couldn’t have asked for anyone better than Glyn and Roger who are easy to talk to about any issues.
“I want to continue with my football and play at the highest level possible.”