Aldershot Town midfielder Jake Gallagher has been named in the England C squad for the International Challenge Trophy fixture against Ukraine on Tuesday 22 March.
Gallagher is part of Paul Fairclough’s 16-man squad that will play at Kiev’s 2000-capacity Victor Bannikov Stadium, part of the Ukrainian FA’s training headquarters near the city’s Olympic Stadium.
Jake will join the squad on the evening on Saturday 19 March, following The Shots’ game at Altrincham, and will return on the morning on Wednesday 23 March.
“It’s a proud moment for me to be called up again,” admitted Gallagher, “it’s always the same feeling as the first time. You’ve got to keep playing well and another call-up is great. All of my previous call-ups have been an amazing experience and you get treated really well, it feels like you’re part of the full England team. We got a great result against the Republic of Ireland Under 21s last year and we’re looking forward to the Challenge Trophy.
“I’m happy with my form and I’m in a good place,” continued Jake, following two consecutive Player of the Month awards with The Shots. “Hopefully I can continue that form. The gaffer and all the staff are looking after me well, and all round it’s been a good period for me. We’ve had some good results and the performances have been good even if the results haven’t always gone our way, like up at Gateshead. We’re looking up the table, and if we’d started this run a bit earlier we might have been looking to push for the Play-Offs – but if we can maintain our form, that might not be out of the question just yet. With the squad we have now, we can beat any team in the National League.”
The full squad is: Brandon Hall (Ebbsfleet United), Peter Crook (Harrogate Town), Sam Habergham (Braintree Town), James Bolton (FC Halifax Town), Ben Heneghan (Chester), Sean Raggett (Dover Athletic), Jack Barthram (Cheltenham Town), Jake Gallagher (Aldershot Town), Alex Woodyard (Braintree Town), Jon Nolan (Grimsby Town), Anthony Jeffrey (Forest Green Rovers), John Goddard (Woking), Billy Waters (Cheltenham Town), Keanu marsh-Brown (Forest Green Rovers), Omar Bogle (Grimsby Town), Kayden Jackson (Wrexham)
An 18-man contingency squad has also been named: Joel Dixon (Barrow), Jamie Butler (Hemel Hempstead Town), Oliver Sprague (Hendon), Niall Heaton (Alfreton Town), Scott Leather (Altrincham), Jack Holland (Bromley), Andy Halls (Macclesfield Town), Chez Isaac (Braintree Town), Craig Clay (Grimsby Town), Daniel Sweeney (Maidstone United), Jack Munns (Cheltenham Town), Brandan Daniels (Harrogate Town), Dion Charles (AFC Fylde), Dayle Southwell (Boston United), Jordan Burrow (FC Halifax Town), Kurtis Guthrie (Forest Green Rovers), Daniel Johnson (Gateshead), Jamie Allen (Southport)
