RYAN WILLIAMSON admits he’s flattered to be linked to other clubs but insists he is loving his football at East End.
The Scotland under-21 cap has been the subject of more media speculation during the past week, with Hibernian the latest club to be linked with him.
It comes after Derby County – currently occupying an automatic promotion spot in the English Championship – were rumoured to be keeping tabs on his performances earlier this season.
Williamson, 21, has featured in every league game for the Pars so far this season and made his bow at international level in October’s 3-1 defeat to England in qualifying for the European Under-21 Championships.
Hibs boss Neil Lennon, who has lost two full backs to injury in the shape of skipper David Gray and Steven Whittaker, will be aware of Williamson’s ability after games between the clubs last season but the player told Press Sport: “I just brush it aside and don’t look too much into it.
“I’m loving my football at the moment.
“I think this year I’ve played every minute so I’m just keeping my head down, doing the best I can for Dunfermline and trying to improve as a player.
“It’s good when people look at your performances and it proves that people have been impressed by me.
“It’s a boost to my confidence but I am just concentrating on improving every day and trying to play every week.
“There’s not much point in reading much into it, especially after the last few years when things weren’t going as well.
“I’m a Dunfermline player and I’ll just keep my head down, keep working hard in training and keep trying to help the team get results to get the club back to where it belongs.”
Williamson and his Pars mates have the opportunity to show a watching nation exactly what they are capable of tomorrow (Friday) when leaders St Mirren arrive for a televised showdown.
They go into it on the back of a disappointing Scottish Cup exit to Morton – in which boss Allan Johnston described Williamson as “outstanding” – but he reckons it is the perfect game for them to try to bounce back.
And he pointed to their box-office performance at Hearts in the Betfred Cup at the beginning of the campaign as grounds for optimism, continuing: “It’s great that we can show the rest of Scotland how good we are, like we did at Tynecastle at the start of the season.
“We put in a good performance and gave a good account of ourselves, and that’s the plan on Friday night.
“We’ve proven the last time at East End (a 3-0 Pars win) that we’re capable of beating St Mirren, and even in the game away from home I thought that we were unlucky not to get anything from it.
“Saturday has been forgotten about. We went into the game confident we could progress and are disappointed things didn’t go for us on the day, but we have to concentrate on Friday night.
“It’s the ideal game. There should be a big crowd, it’s live on telly and they’re top of the league, so the boys have been flying and are determined to put things right.
“It’s the perfect opportunity to try and close the gap.”
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