North Wales star Anna Jones enjoys cracking debut for new team Tranmere Rovers

North Walian Anna Jones had a debut to remember when she came on as a second-half substitute for new club Tranmere Rovers at the weekend.

Anna helped inspire a tremendous comeback as Rovers fought back from 1-0 down to beat Blackburn Community Sports 3-1 in the tier 5 North West Women’s Regional League Premier Division on Sunday.

Two of Tranmere’s three goals came from another North Wales star, former Northop Hall ace Laura Pennington.

The win lifted Rovers up to fifth in the table, just three points behind leaders Salford City Lionesses.

For Anna, 28, it is a step up in standard after three seasons with Chester FC Women in tier 6 Division One South.

Delighted after Sunday’s winning debut, Anna told Grassroots North Wales: “I always want to play at the highest level possible so signing for Tranmere is a great opportunity for me to challenge myself and experience playing in a higher league among quality players and opposition.

“Tranmere is a great club and I think it’s the perfect environment for a player like myself to thrive. Hopefully I can bring something to the team and put in good performances until the end of the season.”

Born on May 16, 1995, Anna Wyn Jones played football from a young age in primary school and at nine joined Bethel Girls Under-11’s.

Anna played for Bethel until she was 16, and also represented North Wales between 13-16, where she gained a lot of experience and developed as a footballer.

In 2011, she joined Caernarfon Town, where she went on to enjoy great success as a midfielder/left winger.

She won the Betty Pickering Cup in 2015-16 and 2016-17, was part of the 2016-17 North Wales Women’s League title-winning squad and then represented the Canaries in the Welsh Premier Women’s League.

In that double-winning 2016-17 campaign, Anna netted 16 goals for the Canaries in all competitions.

Anna has also scooped the BUCS League championship with Bangor University Women’s FC twice and competed in the Costa Blanca Cup with Caernarfon.

After Town pulled out of the WPWL in 2018-19, Anna moved to another top flight club Llandudno, where she was an outstanding performer in the midfield.

When Tudno resigned from the league in 2019-20, Anna joined Chester FC Women in February 2020. She scored six goals in her first three games before the first lockdown stopped the season.

In 2021-22, she scored in the FA Cup for Chester against higher league Salford City. The Deva girls lost 5-4, but set a new home record attendance at the game.

Now in 2023, Anna faces a new challenge at Tranmere, and she could hardly have wished for a better start.