By Ben Kosky TOMMY Williams hopes the arrival of his former manager at Loftus Road will help convince QPR to offer him a contract next month. New Rangers boss Paul Hart signed Williams for Barnsley in 2004 and the left-back, whose loan from Peterborough e

By Ben Kosky

TOMMY Williams hopes the arrival of his former manager at Loftus Road will help convince QPR to offer him a contract next month.

New Rangers boss Paul Hart signed Williams for Barnsley in 2004 and the left-back, whose loan from Peterborough expires in 10 days' time, is keen to play under him again.

"My goal when I came here was to play as many games as I could and show the coaching staff and the supporters that I'm a good player and worthy of a full-time contract," Williams told the Times.

"We've spoken about a few bits and pieces already, but I know it's all about how I perform on the pitch and I don't want to be distracted from that.

"It's nice to be working with Paul again. He was my manager at Barnsley so he knows me, my background and what I'm about and hopefully that can't hurt my prospects.

"Paul signed me and he built the nucleus of the squad that got promoted a year later. He did some really good things at Barnsley and he's got strong principles which I'm sure he'll bring to QPR as well."

Williams is now in his third spell at Loftus Road, having spent the 2002-03 campaign there on loan from Birmingham and returned for a month at the start of the following campaign.

The 29-year-old, who is resigned to leaving Peterborough after turning down a new contract offer, made only one appearance under former Rs manager Jim Magilton.

But Gary Borrowdale's abdominal injury opened the door for him again in the 2-2 draw at West Brom and he remained in the side for Hart's first match in charge, last Saturday's game with Sheffield United.

Now Williams has just three more opportunities to stake his claim for a permanent move to QPR - the Christmas double-header against Bristol City and Ipswich, followed by the FA Cup third round rematch with the Blades.

"Personally, I was happy with my performance on Saturday, but I'm always thinking about the result as well," he added. "We didn't have hundreds of chances but I felt we dominated.

"We can't think about Ipswich until Saturday evening - Bristol City is a massive game for us and, whether it's scrappy or total football, we want to get that win.

"You don't want the teams that are around you to get away and we need the crowd to get behind us, as they did in the second half on Saturday, and help us get a result on Boxing Day."

Borrowdale could be available for selection again over the Christmas period, but one player who will definitely miss the Boxing Day clash with Bristol City is Damion Stewart.

The Jamaican centre-back collected his fifth booking of the season against Sheffield United and is serving a one-match suspension, with Fitz Hall likely to replace him in the starting line-up.

Meanwhile, former Republic of Ireland international midfielder Steven Reid, who joined Rangers on loan around the same time as Williams, has returned to Blackburn.

Like Williams, Reid featured in the Rs' 2-0 defeat at Doncaster, but an ankle injury restricted him to only a brief substitute appearance after that and his month-long loan agreement has now come to an end.