Bishop’s Stortford winger Ryan Charles on scoring his first St Lucia goal in CONCACAF Nations League

A few weeks after unexpectedly becoming an international at the age of 29, Bishop’s Stortford’s Ryan Charles is now celebrating his first St Lucia goal, writes Neal Harrington.

The Walthamstow-born Blues winger qualifies to play for the country through the grandfather on his mother’s side hailing from the Caribbean island.

Charles first appeared for St Lucia in two CONCACAF Nations League matches against Saint Martin in October, with a 2-1 win being followed by a 4-0 defeat.

His third cap came in the winner-takes-all Group B decider against hosts Curacao on November 18.

Just three minutes after coming on as a first-half substitute, Charles controlled and steered home a long pass to level the score at 1-1.

Unfortunately for him and his team-mates, Curacao struck again before finally running out 4-1 winners.

Now construction site driver Charles, who is nicknamed Spider, can look forward to World Cup qualifiers against Curacao and Barbados in March.

“We were treated like A-list celebrities with private jets and police escorts,” he said. “Temperatures were at 40 degrees in the day and didn’t drop below 30 at night. Curacao play on an artificial surface that had a lot less bounce than I’m used to.

“It was quite surreal to score. I was overwhelmed with excitement.

“My career seems to have escalated through the roof. It’s given me a massive confidence boost that Bishop’s Stortford can benefit from.”

Stortford players Peter Phillips, Chris Duggan, Tony Bass (all England) and Norman Dawkins (Wales) all represented their country in amateur internationals during the late 1960s-early 1970s.