June 15th, 2021. Wales face off against Scotland in a behind closed doors friendly, and starting her first game for her country was a 17-year-old Carrie Jones.
Having only made one appearance for her country beforehand, Jones was selected by Gemma Grainger to start on the wing against an experienced Scottish side.
The reason we look back to this moment? Because it is sometimes difficult to remember just how far Jones has come along in such a short amount of time.
Since that game at Parc y Scarlets, the flying winger has gone on to accumulate 23 caps at the of 20, and she is one of the very first names on the team sheet.
Her epic rise all started out, of course, at Manchester United. The Red Devils helped shape Jones to the player she is today, and playing a big part in her development has been manager Marc Skinner.
Skinner admitted after United defeated Bristol City on Sunday that, while Jones had been mightily impressive in pre-season, realised he wouldn’t guarantee gametime for the forward, and that a move was needed to aid her development.
Despite not being in the halls of Carrington anymore, Jones was full of praise for Skinner.
“When I came in at United, you’re very aware straight away that it’s a big club and they have loads of players coming in from everywhere.
“The competition is always really high, and like Marc said, I do think I needed minutes, and leaving was the best decision for me. Marc has helped me a lot in my career.
“When he came in, I was starting and playing games. We beat Manchester City 2-1 in the Conti Cup and he started me in that game, and to put his trust in me in a game like that was such a proud moment for me.
“We had some good words after the game, and it was good to see him again on Sunday.”
Now at Ashton Gate, Jones has hit the ground running instantly. Operating in a variety of different positions, Jones has become a key protagonist in Lauren Smith’s system.
You only need to compare where she’s at now to even a year ago to see just how far Jones has developed, and she knows how much better she can get this season.
“It’s quite hard to see the improvements in the moment. When I look back on the season, I’ll definitely be able to see how far I’ve come. But as footballers, we’re always looking at outcomes which will always be results on the pitch.
“As a newly promoted side, things don’t always go our way, so it is tough, but I tell myself that playing minutes in the WSL at my age is only a good thing and it’ll help me improve a lot.”
Jones’ good form coincides with many other members of Wales’ forward line being in a great place footballing wise.
Elise Hughes is the Championship top scorer, Kayleigh Green has six goals to her name, Hannah Cain is key to Leicester’s success, while Ffion Morgan continues to dazzle for the Robins.
Now, these strikers need to bring this form to the national team, who have been struggling for goals throughout this Nations League campaign, and Jones know the job that’s at hand.
“It’s crucial that we’re all in good form, great we’re all doing well
“We need to score goals – simple as that. Looking back at the game [against Iceland] they dropped off, which was kind of a compliment to us. We need to score goals and be a lot more clinical than we were in the away fixture.”
It’s fair to say that there’s a strong sense of wanting to put things right in this Wales squad, especially against Iceland.
In the reverse fixture at the beginning of this campaign, Iceland came away with a 1-0 win, despite Wales controlling the game throughout.
Grainger and her squad knows that a defeat against the Nordic side would see them relegated from League A. However, beat Iceland by two goals, and they will have a great chance to remain in the top tier.
“It was a lost opportunity [away to Iceland]. Just watching it back myself frustrates me, missed opportunities on goal.
“We played into their hands a bit. They’re a very big, physical side and we played in crosses a lot in the air and that’s not really us.
“We’ve torn the game apart and we know what we’re going to do on Friday.
“These games are really important to us because it’s about learning in this process. We’ve definitely learned so much from that Iceland game and that will help us going into Friday.
“Our main aim is to stay in League A. We’re going to play this game like a play-off final. That might be putting pressure on us but that’s the sort of game we want to be in.”
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