ANTHONY Williams left Hartlepool United hoping the grass would be greener on the other side.

Losing his place in the side to Jim Provett, the former Welsh Under-21 goalkeeper could not face being shunted into the sidelines and opted to seek pastures new.

A loan spell at Stockport last year didn't turn into a permanent move and Williams seemed to be running short of options until Grimsby Town stepped in.

Freshly relegated from Division Two and falling through the then Division One trapdoor only 12 months previous, the Mariners were not in a position, financially speaking, to retain the services of Aidan Davison.

His departure opened the door for Williams and he took little convincing to make the move.

However, an indifferent season from a side that just a few short seasons ago found themselves in the First Division has seen Williams become the target of the boo-boys.

A horrendous gaffe in the defeat to fierce rivals Scunthorpe United, when he clattered two of his own defenders in a vain attempt to claim a high ball, leaving Paul Hayes with the simple task of tapping in to seal a 2-0 win, didn't endear the shot-stopper to the fans.

And, despite his best efforts since, every goal Town have given away has been vociferously blamed on Williams.

The abuse was taken to a new level last week when Williams was 'put up for sale' on internet auction website ebay, the player failing to achieve his £1 valuation.

It led to Grimsby chairman John Fenty leaping to Williams' defence.

"Anthony is absolutely not for sale," he said. "He is a smashing fellow and the fans aren't giving him a chance. I feel for the guy."

Such actions clearly do no good for a players' confidence but Williams is doing his best to win over the fans, even handing over a pair of gloves to one supporter during a 1-1 draw with Boston despite conceding a goal within the opening 30 seconds.

After the 1-0 defeat to Darlington at the weekend, a game in which he hardly had a save to make, he said he had no regrets at leaving Hartlepool behind.

"They are doing well, brilliant and all credit to them," Williams said of Neale Cooper's League One play-off chasers. "But I just had to play football. I couldn't go and sit on the bench. I was honest with the manager and I said that.

"I wanted to leave to play football. Admittedly it was a division lower, fair enough, but I'm at a stage in my career where I want to be playing every week.

"I could have sat there, but to be honest I would have felt like I was cheating myself, picking my money up for doing nothing.

"As a goalkeeper you are either in or you are out - maybe a couple of months down the line I would have got back in but at the time the decision was right, I moved on and now I'm playing week in week out."

Williams was hardly brimming with enthusiasm when asked if Cleethorpes was the right place to move to given what has happened in recent months - but believes he can turn things around.

"At the moment, yes," he said. "We have had a few dodgy games and obviously I made a mistake in the derby game so that doesn't help and the fans got on my back from then on, but I think I have done reasonably well.