Alness Academy schoolboy relives the day he took to the field and prepared for penalty kicks to save Ross County's Premiership status
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He had to pass on the wild celebrations that roared long into the night – after all, there was SCHOOL in the morning.
Few of the Ross County first team even knew Jamie Williamson by name before brief pre-match introductions.
Manager Malky Mackay was only half-joking when he said he wouldn’t have recognised the Alness Academy kid 24 hours before picking him for the biggest game in the club’s recent history.
There he was, though, late on a Sunday afternoon in June, lined up at the halfway line ready to take part in a penalty in a shoot-out to save the Staggies' Premiership status.
Through injuries, the youth academy midfielder was called upon in County’s hour of need for the play-off match against Partick Thistle.
An extraordinary comeback in the last 19 minutes of play hauled the aggregate back from 3-0 against the Staggies to 3-3.
Williamson entered the fray as substitute after 101 minutes and did himself proud by holding his own.
Even so, legs were turning to jelly as the penalty shoot-out progressed with the 16-year-old a couple of takers away from being next up to the 12-yard mark.
To his great relief, Ross Docherty’s kick was then saved by County keeper Ross Laidlaw and Josh Sims struck the winner.
Whether or not Williamson would have froze or scored, we shall never know.
But he certainly showed plenty of calm and poise on Friday evening last week to hit a Scottish Youth Cup leveller from the penalty spot.
Kilmarnock under 18s, the competition favourites, eventually ran out 4-1 winners, but it was a memorable second bow at the Global Energy Stadium for Williamson after last season’s whirlwind senior debut.
“This is where we all want to be – we want to be playing on this park, regularly,” Williamson said afterwards.
“It was a great experience in front of the fans. It doesn’t get much better.
“I was lucky enough to be drafted in for last season’s play-off final. I was full of nerves, as you could expect, but I was so excited.
“I just said to myself I would play it simple, grow into the game. When it went to penalties I was a bit shaky on the halfway line.
“On that day, if I had to take one I would have. I decided I was going to go left, but I was watching the goalkeeper and he was going left at every single one!
“I wouldn’t have changed my mind, I would have stuck with it.
“I think there were one or two more to go before me, but I don’t know if Connor Randall would have taken one because he had cramp.
“It was a good experience. I have to be proud of being part of it.
“That was one of the biggest games in this club’s history, and one of the best comebacks.
“I had belief in myself, I know what I can do. I know if you put me on the park, I will do a job for the team.”
Williamson, like all of his under 18s academy team-mates, has seven or eight months remaining at that level before a decision will be made on his future.
Bright academically, carving a career in full-time football is his dream, as it has been since joining County at the age of 10.
“A lot of boys have come through the academy and Friday was their first, and maybe their last, time playing on this park.
“It’s really good for the boys to get a taste of it. A lot of boys will kick on from it. They have got a taste for it and that’s where they want to go.
“I have grown up through the academy, learning from new coaches all the way - from Ryan Farquhar and Richard Hastings, to the likes of Carl Tremarco and Gary Warren.
“I have not really had much contact with the manager (Malky Mackay). I’m just focused on playing for the under 18s and doing what I can with them.
“If opportunities come, it’s about taking them and doing what I can.”
County, coached by head of professional academy Carl Tremarco, were competitive throughout against Kilmarnock, a team from the elite performance league who top the table and have recently beaten both sides of the Old Firm and Aberdeen.
“I can only thank everyone who came,” Williamson said. “It was £5 a ticket so it is good funds for the club.
“They showed their support and we felt the backing, but we just couldn’t get the result in the end.
“In the first half we kept it solid and had a good shape. In the second half we wanted to keep it tight for the first 10 minutes, but we just couldn’t do that.
“Carl said to us at half-time that in the first 10 minutes we couldn’t win it, but we could definitely lose it.
“That was how it ended.”
How it ends at Ross County for Williamson and his team-mates remains to be seen.
