A gifted 15-year-old footballer with local connections came off the bench to make his dream debut for England under-16s in their impressive Victory Shield win over Northern Ireland.

Joshua Rees, an outstanding central midfielder, has shone this season for his school and Arsenal academy to deservedly earn selection for England.

Rees came on as a substitute and played a vital role in England’s emphatic 6-0 win in Ballymena, and he’ll have his fingers crossed that his name is pencilled in for the starting line-up when they face Wales in Llanelli on October 31st.

At Arsenal Rees is coached by former Republic of Ireland midfielder Liam Brady, a super star with the Gunners at Highbury.

Rees has been with Arsenal since he was nine, and plays a year above his age for the Gunners and is one of three Arsenal players in the England squad.

Readers from Pembroke-shire will be interested to know that Joshua’s grandfather was Peter Rees, who used to live in Waterston, near Milford Haven.

Peter played for Neyland Youth when they won the Wiltshire Youth Cup back in 1948. He joined the Metropolitan Police in 1951, and played football for the International Police Association.

After returning to live in Pembrokeshire in 1988, he returned to Essex in 2001, where he sadly died in 2005. If still alive today, Peter would have been immensely proud grandfather to have watched his grandson’s brilliant achievement.

Highly rated Rees attends Southend High School for boys, where ironically, the head of sport is Steve Thomas, originally from Haverford-west. Steve is the son of Haverfordwest town councillor Beryl Thomas-Cleaver.

Joshua’s grandmother Joan Rees, father Simon, mother Cindy and sister Eve, were extremely proud spectators at Ballymena.