A one-way ticket halfway across the globe has landed Haverfordwest County goalkeeper Zac Jones on the verge of his second taste of European football.
The 24-year-old New Zealander is just 90 minutes away from qualifying for the UEFA Conference League for the second time in his career as he prepares for Sunday’s JD Cymru Premier European Play-Off final against Caernarfon Town.
Jones admits his decision to leave home was a youthful punt that’s worked out well.
“It was a big gamble, but it was something I was willing to take at a young age. When you’re young, you may as well give things a shot, so I gave it a crack to see if I could make it work over here.”
Haverfordwest County v Caernarfon Town
Having initially arrived at Haverfordwest midway through the 2021/22 season, Jones has almost completed his third full season in Pembrokeshire – a far-flung destination from where he grew up in Wellington.
It was in the New Zealand capital where Jones began his development as a goalkeeper, playing throughout the junior ranks before progressing through the academy of local professional club side Phoenix, where he established himself as third-choice goalkeeper for the first team before the Coronavirus pandemic hit.
“That’s when I booked flight tickets to come over to the UK and ended up at Haverfordwest. I arranged a one-way ticket to just be wherever it took me. The plan was to go around Europe and try and pick up a club, and thankfully I ended up in Wales,” he said.
Whilst unfamiliar with the JD Cymru Premier prior to his arrival, Jones now has a very different view of the competition with 84 league appearances under his belt.
“It’s a really underrated league, it’s hard to explain until you actually play here just how tough it is. It’s really physical and demanding. Even within the three years I’ve been here, you can see it’s growing and getting more and more competitive. You can see the trajectory the league is on,” he explained.
However, it isn’t just the JD Cymru Premier that is on an upward trajectory. Haverfordwest County, themselves, are on a similar path, having just equalled their best-ever league finish and completed the season with the best defensive record in the league. Jones claimed the Golden Glove with 15 clean sheets in 31 appearances.
“I’ve been really pleased with the season,” Jones said. “In previous seasons, we weren’t perhaps defensively as strong as a unit, but that comes with a few years playing together.
“We’ve kept the core of the squad together, so on a personal note it’s been a great season so far for me with how I’ve been going. In terms of the club, it’s a season in which we’ve broken records so it’s great that the trajectory that we’re on is a good one. Unfortunately, because of the coefficient points, we missed out with third spot, but hopefully we can put that right.”
While the Bluebirds enjoyed a highly-encouraging campaign, Caernarfon Town will arrive in West Wales with quiet confidence. The Cofis are no strangers to play-off success, having secured European qualification through this very route last season.
“Caernarfon are obviously in good form and we’ve had some good battles with them this season, but we’re fully confident that we can put on a performance that we’re proud of. Hopefully that’s enough to get us over the line,” said Jones.
“Home advantage for us is huge, our fans have been excellent this year. Playing half our season in Carmarthen was tough and showed how strong our fanbase is with the numbers that travelled out there, and since we’ve been back at Bridge Meadow, we’ve had great turnouts and you can really feel it on the pitch so hopefully, it’ll be a really good turnout on the weekend.”
Jones played an instrumental role in Haverfordwest qualifying for Europe in 2023, as he saved Eliot Evans’ penalty in the Play-Off semi-final against Cardiff Met and then two spot-kicks in the shootout in the same game, before denying Aaron Williams from the spot in the shootout win over Newtown in the final.
“It would be a great way to wrap up a great season for the club and would be the icing on the cake to qualify twice in three years,” the goalkeeper says. “Before that was 19 years ago, so it’s some feat and just goes to show how the club is moving forward and would be a reward for all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes.
“There’s a lot of players that go their entire careers without playing in any European competitions so it’s a privilege to play in those competitions.”
JD Cymru Premier European Play-Off final
And whilst European football with Haverfordwest is at the forefront of Jones’ mind, he still harbours ambitions of perhaps one day representing his country at international level.
“New Zealand has been blessed with some goalkeeping talent recently and there’s some really talented goalkeepers coming through around my age, so it’s really competitive at the moment,” he explained.
“But of course, I would love to play for my country at one point in my career and it’s definitely a goal of mine. The only thing I can do is keep playing, keep performing and hopefully in a few years, I would like to be able to get my call-up.”
And if Jones can continue to develop and progress on the same trajectory as his club since arriving in Wales, that one-way flight might just continue to keep realising his footballing ambitions.
