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As for Williams he only joined Carlisle on a three-year deal just over 12 months ago in late June 2008, Williams coming to United on a Bosman deal from Crewe as a replacement for Coventry-bound Keiren Westwood. Williams finding those gloves a tough act to fill in his early days with United as he was also a target for the Brunton Park boo-boys.
He had turned his form around though by the end of the season, in which he made 36 starts and was an unused substitute 14 times. Those games on the bench coming when Blues boss Greg Abbott decided a change in the nets was required, both Ben Alnwick from Tottenham and Tim Krul from Newcastle filling in on loan spells during those periods of inactivity for Williams.
Colchester boss Paul Lambert was certainly keen to sign a player who went on to win the Carlisle United away supporters player of the season award though. Greg Abbott eventually, and presumably to get some cash into the club allowing Williams to move to the U's, Ben himself commenting to BBC Radio Cumbria on his transfer to Essex :
" Sorting the deal has been quite long and there have been a couple of times when I didn't think that it would go through with the swap deal collapsing. Now though it has finally gone through, obviously it is a bit strange really, it has been quite protracted but it has been very quick when it does happen.
" I heard about their interest just before we came back for pre-season training. I spoke to the manager (Greg Abbott) and he said that there had been interest from Colchester, but it wasn't really the offer that he wanted. It suited him better to have a player in return, like a striker like Scott Vernon, so it all hinged on that really.
" At the end of the day the club came in for me, the manager (Abbott) spoke to me and he said that it would be a good career move for me, they are a bigger club in League One and that they are going to be challenging this season. He said that the offer that they had made eventually was quite a good one. "
First Team Transfers 2009-10 : Click here