WOMEN’S FOOTBALL: ST ALBANS teenager Josie Green fired Wales U19s to victory over Turkey in their recent UEFA Women’s U19s Championship qualifier.

Josie, who turns 18 later this month, was on target in the 62nd minute to give the Dragons all three points at Carmarthen’s Richmond Park.

It was the second time in recent weeks that she had been on target for Wales having scored the equaliser in the 2-2 draw with Belgium back in March and the youngster says she is enjoying the experience of international football and the challenge of playing the best players from all around Europe.

“I’m really proud to play for Wales and am enjoying the challenges of international football, it’s a great experience to play against top footballers from other countries,” Josie told the Herts Advertiser.

“I was especially pleased with the recent match against Germany - it was hard to come back and draw from 1-0 down - but our team played well and worked really hard, it was a great achievement. It was great to score the winner against Turkey too.”

She added: “It’s a big commitment, I’ve been away from home a lot recently in Portugal, Belgium and Wales - which I enjoy - but I’ve missed quite a lot of school so I’m having to work hard now to catch up.”

The Beaumont School pupil earned her call up to the Wales set up after impressing for Watford Ladies, the club she has been at since the age of 14. She was snapped up by the Hornets after helping Beaumont to the Schools U14 National Final which was played at the Millennium Stadium. Josie was invited to join the Watford School of Excellence and upon graduating from there she has gone on to appear for the club’s reserve team and senior side on several occasions.

Josie’s ambition is to join a club in the newly formed Women’s Super League as well as continue her exploits with the Welsh national team.

Josie’s international commitments mean she hasn’t feature much for Watford in recent weeks but the St Albans youngster hopes the Hornets can turn things around and avoid relegation.

“Being away with Wales so much means that I’ve not played that much club football for the last few months,” she said.

“Overall it’s been quite a tough season for both Watford teams, but the reserves were runners up in the County Cup Final recently.

“A win for the first team is crucial to prevent relegation when we play Notts Forest in our last match of the season on the 24th.”

* The Watford midfielder is not the only local player involved with the Wales U19 set up with Watford team-mate Megan Wynne and Arsenal’s Hayley Ladd also appearing.