MARC WILLIAMS knows all about the emotional ups and downs of being a footballer but his latest tale takes some beating.

Williams - the former Wrexham and Chester star - was pictured joyously celebrating with fans on the terrace in Belfast after scoring the winning penalty in a Europa Conference League shoot-out win at Crusaders.

“I’d have never have thought I’d have been in that position,” said Williams, who revealed he’d spent six hours in A&E in the build-up to the tie.

“I’d picked up an injury in pre-season and then flew off to America,” said Williams.

“The injury flared up badly and they weren’t sure whether it was a blood clot or a fracture and that I was going to be out for weeks.

“I was in A&E for six hours but the leg got better, had a couple of training sessions and made the bench (for) the game.

“It summed up the ups and and downs I’ve experienced all throughout my career but it was a fantastic feeling celebrating with the fans as it was with scoring in the play-off final win last season.”

When Williams talks about his rollercoaster ride of emotions in football, his gambling addiction during his days out injured at The Racecourse, proved a life-changing experience.

“I remember a hat-trick at the Racecourse, 7,000 people chanting your name and there’s something very special about that,” said Williams.

“It gives you a buzz that is very hard to replicate anywhere else.

“But when I did get my first bit of adversity, where something went against me that I couldn’t deal with, I escaped and the first thing I did was gamble.

“I was low, I’d gone from being in that team, with the camaraderie every day, that buzz I got from a match day to sitting at home on my own and the world of gambling, going into that world was the closest I could get to what I got on the football pitch.

“I was able to do it from my own home, 24 hours a day and along with my then personality of being competitive and wanting to win, I had to beat the bookmaker.”

Williams, 35, now holds sessions for Epic Global Solutions with sports team all over the world about addiction.

“I went to Wrexham to do a session last season and it was supposed to be on the Welcome to Wrexham documentary but it may be on the next series now,” added Williams, who made his name at Wrexham in the first season in non-league football scoring 15 goals in the first six months of the season.

“I had a real purple patch, scoring goals and playing alongside Jeff Louis. There were great days.

“There was talk of big-money moves but Dean Saunders promised me the earth and I signed a new deal.

“Four weeks later I broke my foot. Then when I came back and broke the same foot - and I never recovered that.”

Williams, who was in the Wrexham team the day relegation to the Football League was confirmed after a 2-0 defeat at Hereford in April 2008, went on to play for Kidderminster Harriers and Chester.

“I’ll never forget my days at Wrexham and it was great to go back to the club last season,” added Williams.

“It was nice to go back in terms of what we are doing and raising that vital awareness for the players but deep down inside, a little bit sad as well in the sense that it brings back all those memories and moments, and you just wish you could go back.

“To come through the academy and then be in the same side as Darren Ferguson, Carlos Edwards and Andy Morrell - players I used to cheer on as a fan - was amazing.”

Caernarfon are now his fifth North Wales port of call and he’ll be hoping to restore a bit of pride when The Canaries host Legia Warsaw in tonight’s Europa Conference League second round qualifier second leg at Bangor’s Nantporth Stadium.

Caernarfon were hammered 6-0 in the Polish capital seven days ago.

Welsh champions The New Saints, meanwhile, went down 7-1 on aggregate to Ferencvaros in their second-round Champions League qualifying tie after a 2-1 defeat at Park Hall.

Goals from Kristoffer Zachariassen and Philippe Rommens in either half, the latter from the penalty spot, killed the contest but TNS had the last word as Josh Daniels (pictured right) fired home a consolation in stoppage time.

Saints will now face FC Petrocub, the Moldovan champions who exited the Champions League following defeat to APOEL.