MONTGOMERYSHIRE football stars Carrie Jones and Maria Francis-Jones have been included in the Welsh squad for the forthcoming UEFA Women’s Under 17s qualifying round.

Newtown based Jones and Llanidloes’ Francis-Jones help form part of a 20 string squad which takes on the Republic of Ireland, Albania and Serbia in a three match tournament held at the Stara Pazova Stadium in Serbia between October 22-28.

With Wales in Group seven, the 11 group winners and runners-up from the qualifying round will progress to the elite round along with the four best third placed teams.

Among the Welsh coaching set-up is Newtown’s Lauren Smith, the assistant to senior side manager Jane Ludlow.

Smith said: “We’re really excited about this group of players.

“They always push for a challenge and hopefully this will give them the chance to compete on the international stage.”

Jones and Francis-Jones, along with Newtown’s Libby Isaac, are each members of the Newport based Welsh Performance squad.

Meanwhile Smith took charge of Wales in their 2-1 defeat against Iceland in their UEFA Women’s Under 19s qualifying clash in Armenia on Saturday.

Hlin Eiríksdóttir and Alexandra Jóhannsdóttir netted for the Icelanders with Tamsyn Sibanda reducing the arrears for the young Dragons.

Wales are back in action today (Friday) with a challenging clash against Belgium.