DANNY Cowley has compared Colchester United boy Jay Williams to one of the best recruits of his managerial career after hailing the deadline-day signing’s determination, competitiveness and winning mentality.
Cowley said Williams reminded him of Michael Bostwick, whom he ranks among his “top-five ever signings”, after working with him during a hugely successful spell at Lincoln City.
Bostwick won the League Two title and the EFL Trophy under the Cowleys at Lincoln, also scooping their Player of the Year award – and the U’s boss sees favourable similarities with Williams.
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Cowley said: “I think Jay leads by example.
“We had a boy called Michael Bostwick, who’s definitely one of my top-five ever signings.
“Bozzy was incredible and Jay really reminds of him.
“He plays midfield and can also play centre-half as well.
“He’s just a winner, with so much determination and fighting quality.
“Jay has all of that and we’re really looking forward to working with him.”
Williams made his Colchester debut at Swindon and was impressive in the first half but was forced off before the hour mark at the County Ground, due to cramp.
“Jay cramped up at half-time which we understood,” added Cowley.
“We know where he’s been and what he’s done.
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“We were hoping we might be able to get to 60 because he’s able to have such an influence.
“We know he’s going to be an important player for us, so we have to try to get him fit as quick as we can.
“We can wait and we know there’s another way to do it but we thought in the third game in a three-game week, the game is tired anyway and there’s quite a lot of players who are over cooked, so it’s quite a good game to come into if you’re under cooked.
“Kylian [Kouassi] was the same but he’s had a bit more football than Jay, to be fair.
“We definitely missed both of them when they came off the pitch, that’s for sure.
“Jay’s been training regularly.
“He played in the back end of their [Crawley] pre-season against Reading and then he came onto the pitch against York in the Carabao Cup preliminary round.
“We’re really pleased to have him and he has some real qualities that we love in players – that determination and resilience and competitiveness will really add to our group.”
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