Saturday, August 30, 2025

Willo 'as fit as ever' with Turner's early lessons keeping him sharp after two decades

Andy Williams celebrates his second goal

Andy Williams has addressed the elephant in the room - his age - despite looking one of the fittest players on the pitch as he bagged both goals in Hereford's 2-0 win over Alfreton.

The 39-year-old striker played the majority of the match, being replaced by assistant manager Adam Rooney in the dying stages, managing his game well, organising the team on the pitch and showing his Football League experience.

Saying he was delighted at the massive, overdue win after a frustrating start to the season, Williams said: "I've had a few starts to be honest this season, which is nice.

"Me and Rem [Campbell] had a little bit of a partnership for a couple of games. He had a bit of a knock today, so he wasn't able to start, but yeah, I love it. Obviously just want to play as much football as I can, the days are ticking away in that respect so it's great to be out there. 

"I can still do 90 minutes as I've shown and hopefully I can still be a massive asset for this team."

When BBC Hereford and Worcester’s Carson Wishart wished him a belated happy birthday,  Willo said: "Like I tell everyone, it's just a number."

Having started his career at Edgar Street more than 20 years ago, before moving on to clubs like Bristol Rovers, Yeovil Town, Swindon Town, Doncaster Rovers, Cheltenham Town and Walsall, the dad-of-two praised the Bulls for the grounding that shaped his professionalism.

It was the 2004/05 season when the Hereford-born striker made his first Conference appearance for United, before breaking through and being the topscorer in the promotion-winning campaign that followed.

"I've looked after myself since the start of my career and I owe a lot to the people at this club at the start of my career; Tony Ford [fitness coach] and Graham Turner [manager] teaching me how to look after myself from day one," he said.

"I've done that throughout, don't drink, don't smoke, don't do anything that damages your health and it pays you back eventually.

"I feel as fit as I ever do. You feel like you lose a little bit of a yard sometimes but as long as your brain's still working you can gain that yard in your head and it doesn't really affect it, especially at this level.

"Hopefully I can still have a positive impact on the team like I did today."

Williams said the message from Paul Caddis in the dressing room has been to get back to basics – vital advice against Alfreton who "just throw everything in the box".

"We knew we had to deal with that side of it because that's something that's let us down in the last few games.

"Obviously a lot of things are judged on results and we've just conceded sloppy goals at the wrong times of games which has made it harder to then go at the other end and score goals because teams just bank in."

He said an early goal was important, but also said how young players can be daunted by the crowd at Edgar Street, often the second biggest in the Enterprise National League North.

"I think that was massive today and I think you can really see a bit more quality from a few more once you get ahead in the game and see what quality we have got in this dressing room," he added.

Returning to the topic of the Bulls fanbase later in the interview, Willo added: "It's so important everybody sticks together at this football club because those thousands that we've got here are only a weapon if we're all together.

"Everyone pays for their opinion, I appreciate that, and if you want to boo, you boo at times, but if we can keep everyone on side like we did, look at the difference it's made.

"They got their rewards today and hopefully they'll party sensibly tonight and be ready for Tuesday themselves."