It was a small gesture but one that could go a long way as following a challenging 45 minutes at right-back for Bristol City in which he looked every inch the 19-year-old still learning his trade, Sam Bell was taken off at half-time by Nigel Pearson.
That Ashton Gate changing room must have been a lonely place for Bell as his teammates returned to the field to try and salvage something from the game, which they ultimately failed, meaning the teenager’s selection was among the main topics of debate after the game.
Not that it was all Bell’s fault, of course, he was picked in a largely unfamiliar position in only his 14th professional appearance against a natural winger in Onel Hernandez who had one of his best performances of the season in exploiting one of the Championship’s most vulnerable defensive units.
But whether responsible or not, the focus was on him, making that need to digest all that had transpired last Saturday afternoon all the more difficult for the Bristolian. Had City claimed an equaliser, for example, it would have been shifted down the agenda but he remained front and centre.
As the players returned to the dressing room, while he may not have received the requisite support on the field from his more senior teammates, he found some comfort and reassurance from Joe Williams who made a point of going to speak to the youngster and try and offer some physical and verbal comfort.
“I spoke to him after the game, put my arm around him,” Williams said. “Listen, he’s a striker, he’s doing a job at right-back and he’s got absolutely nothing to worry about. If he wouldn’t be playing in our team if he wasn’t ready to play in our team. The manager doesn’t do that with young players.
“He is 100 per cent ready to play in our team. He had a good game here against Boro, found it tough the other day but I’d have no issue with Belly playing again Saturday.
“He had a tough afternoon but everyone does. I agree, he could have been helped out more and I agree he may have to take a bit of responsibility himself - come back Saturday, puff your chest out and go again, because that’s what football is about. That game’s gone now.
“None of us have got an issue; he’s a great lad and a great player.”
As said, it was a small act of kindness and comradeship but one that could help Bell if he’s thrust back into first-team action this weekend at Blackburn or kept back in reserve as Pearson continues to search for an answer to his right-back woes.
But it also spoke of Williams’ own character. He undoubtedly wasn’t the only City player to have spoken to Bell post-Birmingham but it’s further evidence of his presence in the dressing room and increasing role as a leader in this squad.
Indeed, the 25-year-old believes the senior players at City, in which he very much considers himself a part of, need to show greater responsibility in helping and shielding the young elements of the squad which, not so long ago, he was a part of.
He’s only played 18 games for the Robins amid continual injury problems but, due to his infectious personality and presence, has still felt part of the team, aiding his ability to exert influence beyond just how he performs on the field.
Williams admits he was one of the individuals who made a point of speaking at Monday’s hastily-scheduled team meeting, as the players were called to the Robins High Performance Centre on their day off for some home truths and to try and change the direction of their season.
“It’s part of my personality, I probably speak a little bit… Sometimes I speak a little bit too much, so in some meetings I keep my mouth shut a little bit more,” Williams said with a smile.
“But we have a lot of vocal players in the dressing room and I’d say there are five or six of us who would speak. Then you have players who would maybe lead by example, who are a different type of leaders and characters. But for me, I’d always speak.
“I’m not going to tell you what happened, it wasn’t anything major just, get in, speak to each other, see what’s gone wrong, on the pitch, off the pitch, whatever and go through it with each other. Because we all need each other, we’re all a team, we all need to tell each other what’s best for the club and what we need from each other.
“I’m not going to go into detail but it was everything - standards, on the pitch and off the pitch, just a good chat. There wasn’t anything conflict, just the whole team speaking and getting everything off our chests and what we can do better at.”
With 10 games to play, City are virtually safe from relegation - FiveThirtyEight rate their chance of demotion at less than one per cent - but are drifting towards the bottom three only heightening the debate surrounding “what if” Derby and Reading hadn’t received their points deductions?
By those metrics, City could be justifiable considered as a relegation-threatened team, which renders the constant claims of progress slightly redundant given the clear and tangible evidence of regression.
Of course, this is all slightly skewed by the fact that Derby and Reading have been punished for cheating so whether City would or could be is neither here nor there. To crib a Pearson-ism, they are where they are in the context of the 2021/22 season. But the key for the manager and his players is trying to bring the conversation back around to a sense of optimism, not dread, for next season.
“The lads aren’t happy with the last two games, how we’ve played and how we’ve performed - we know how much better we can be,” Williams added. “We’re just determined to turn that around.
“We’ve worked on it many, many times; we’ve been through clips, things on the training ground. It’s not through the lads not trying, we’re all trying our best, it’s just through lapses in concentration, little mistakes. We were two goals down the other day inside 12 minutes without Birmingham really having to work for the two goals and then you’re having to chase the game.
“We’ve got a lot of lads in their first season in the Championship which you’ve got to take into account. They’re all learning and are going to make mistakes, so we have to be a bit patient with a few of them. Then maybe the senior ones, we have to take a bit more responsibility and be a bit harder on each other.
“We know what we want to do over these last 10 games, we don’t want it to be like last season where we let it fizzle out and got ourselves into a position where we shouldn’t have been, really. So, we want to finish as high up the league as possible, play on the front foot and play positive, attacking football.”
For Williams, the conclusion to this campaign is also an opportunity to have a sustained run of performances in a red shirt as he reaches the midpoint of his City career. After signing a four-year contract in the summer of 2020, the midfielder has been blighted by hamstring problems, restricting him to so few Championship appearances.
He admits he’s still not 100 per cent, and his situation needs to be carefully managed with long consultations with head of medical Dave Rennie but he sees the progression, both in terms of how he feels internally and his statistical output measured after every game.
It could even be shaped as something of a personal mission for the midfielder; not only to raise his own fitness levels back to an appropriate state after so many intermittent spells on the sidelines but also put together a sustained and impressive run of form, something he’s been prevented from achieving since the conclusion to the 2019/20 campaign with Wigan Athletic.
“I’m feeling good, I’m feeling fitter every week,” he said. “Obviously at the start I was having to manage myself, which was a bit frustrating but now I’m just starting to get a consistent run of games. It’s not nice losing but the past 12-18 months have been frustrating and I’m just happy to be on the pitch.
“As I look at the running stats, I’m doing more each game. I’m feeling fitter and my heart rate is coming down in the games, so I feel like I’m getting there, I’m getting closer. I honestly don’t feel like I’m far away and I’m honestly looking to kick on in these last 10 games.”
SIGN UP: For our daily Robins newsletter, bringing you the latest from Ashton Gate
