 Nineteen year old Bermudan striker David Jones has joined his fellow countryman Tevahn Tyrell in signing for Ilkeston FC for the 2016/17 season.
David arrived in England four years ago and joined Ilkeston FC during the 2015/16 pre-season after having spells at Mansfield Town and Newcastle Town.
Like Tyrell, Jones worked his way through the academy teams and into the first team squad when he made his debut as a 79th minute substitute in the Derbyshire Senior Cup tie at home to Long Eaton United.
He made his full debut in the home game against Halesowen Town, where he took the place of Daniel Udoh after his move to Crewe Alexandra.
Jones scored his first goal for Ilkeston in the Integro Doodson League Cup tie against Scarborough Athletic.
On signing his first professional contract David had this to say: “
I knew Jahquil Hill when we were both at Mansfield Town, so I’d heard about the links that Ikeston FC had with Bermuda and when I was looking as to what my next move would be, Ilkeston seemed a good place to be.”
“I knew Tevahn from back home and then Paul Douglas came over as well, I knew this was the right place for me and I fitted right in.
It feels like a family here, usually when you go to a new club you’re the only Bermudan there and it can sometimes be hard to get integrated with the team, but here it was so easy.”
On making his first team debut: “I’ve been working so hard since I came to England and to finally get that chance felt so good.”
He went on to talk about scoring his first goal for the club: “That really eased the pressure I put on myself, I kept thinking that I need to score, I need to score and I was kind of getting stressed about it, thinking that I have to prove myself to the manager and the fans, so when I got the goal at Scarborough, it was a big relief.”
On his plans for the summer: “I’m going back to Bermuda for the summer and it’s nice to be able to relax on the beach, knowing that I have next season sorted out. I can’t relax too much though, myself and Tevahn have to be back in training after a couple of weeks, we have an Under 20’s World Cup Qualifying group to play, hopefully we’ll make the squad for that.”
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