MATTY Willock looks like a footballer which is good news for St Mirren who want to see him play some football.
The 21-year-old is a big guy who glides about the pitch and has this lovely way of taking the ball first time with his head up while looking to make a pass.
He remains a Manchester United player, so you would expect him to be half decent, but he looked a lot more than that during Saturday’s game with Dumbarton which St Mirren won 6-0.
Read more: Tam McManus: The wait's nearly over...but how will the Premiership teams fare?
Willock played eleven games at St Johnstone last season and was okay. However, it seems he has really kicked on as a player and the midfielder could well be a real star for the Paisley men.
A lovely run and chip in the first-half didn’t bring a goal but what it did do was show this is someone with a bit of flair and that never goes amiss.
And at least Willock is getting a game which is not the easiest thing to do for a young player at Old Trafford.
He said: “United as a club have just told me to grow and learn as a player and they’ll see where I’m at Christmas.
"If you look at United at the moment, there are still a lot of good young players who have broken through.
"You’ve got Marcus (Rashford), Jesse (Lingard), Scott McTominay. So, I don’t think it is impossible. The manager does give chances but you just need to be ready when you go to train with the first team or when he watches you as it’s such a big club.
"You can’t just be mediocre to get into the first-team. You need to be outstanding. That’s what everyone strives to do. That’s still the dream. I’d love to go back and stake a claim but at the moment I’m only focusing on St Mirren.”
St Mirren need a striker, probably two, and a few more if truth be told – and manager Alan Stubbs knows this – and we will see where they are after the Dundee game on Saturday.
Read more: Rangers manager Steven Gerrard targets two more signings before Premiership opener
It’s going to be a tough season for them. The bottom places will be fought between themselves, Livingston, probably Hamilton, and maybe one other team.
Stubbs has some good players to work with but they could do with a bit of experience which always helps.
In saying that, this was a good win and display and while the performances have been up and down, that’s four games without defeat.
Willock said: “It was a good game. As a team, I thought we played well. It’s easy to start making mistakes and get sloppy when you are comfortable in a game but I thought everyone stuck to their jobs well.
“Some of the lads scored some great goals. I was really impressed.
"Obviously this was my first game and I haven’t really seen St Mirren play but some of the goals were brilliant."
Willock had a few options but Stubbs is a convincing man.
He said: "I spoke to the gaffer and he really sold me the club with the way they are looking to progress.
“He also wants to play good football through the lines so I thought it would be a good move for me.
“I’d a few things down south but I enjoyed it up here last season. I thought I learned a lot so why not come back. It helped me to grow physically because the tempo is really quick. I learned a lot just playing with men each week.
"The plan is just to get as many games as I can and to get as much experience. I just want to learn off other players and the gaffer and re-evaluate once it’s done. We’ve a good young team and I’m happy to be here.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel