Nations League Northern Ireland/Montenegro: Lauren Perry is back in form and is aiming for the right to be Northern Ireland No.1

Perry, who has been away from Northern Ireland for more than three years and endured an injury nightmare since winning his last cap while still a teenager, feels the time is right to return.

The 22-year-old has been highly rated since joining Montrose Women at the start of the season, making her name a household name with back-to-back nominations in the SWPL Team of the Week.

All of this confirms her feeling that moving from Dundee United to Montrose was “probably the best decision I made”.

Perry was not called up despite Northern Ireland manager Tanya Oxtoby not having a clear number one, while Jackie Barnes works towards his return from Achilles surgery.

Another impressive performance saw her return for the Women’s Nations League play-off battle against Montenegro. And she’s in a better position than she was just a few months ago.

Perry, who suffered a cruciate ligament injury in his right knee two years ago, said, “I was back playing at the beginning of this season, but I think now is the right time to return to the national team.” Years after sustaining the same injury to his left knee.

“I’ve had a lot of games and I feel like I’m back to my pre-injury standard now. To be honest, I think now is probably the right time. It might have been a little difficult before, but it’s fast. .

“I probably would have been ready by the previous camp, but I don’t know if my standards were right.

“Now I’m sharper and more confident in my play. And once I moved to a new team, it took me a while to gel. Now I’m back to my old self. I think there’s a big difference in my game and I pride myself on having high standards and I think I’m back to those standards.”

That’s good news for Oxtoby ahead of a two-legged battle that Northern Ireland must win if they are to remain in League B.

Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Shannon Turner started the first four Nations League group games, while Crusaders Strikers’ Maddy Harvey-Clifford kept a clean sheet in a 4-0 win over Albania in December In the game against the Republic of Ireland, they conceded six goals.

Lily Woods and Rachel Nounay, who made their debuts in the 2-0 win over the Czech Republic in July, have not been given any playing time by Okstoby, while Burns remains sidelined for Friday afternoon’s game. It looks like he still has a starting spot. Clash in Podgorica.

“If I train to the best of my ability and to a standard that I know I can achieve, and I win the No. 1 jersey, that would be a huge opportunity.” Perry said. “My main focus is to go out there and train well. You never know what’s going to happen and playing makes everything better.”

After suffering two cross-cuts before he turned 21, the thought crossed his mind that he might never win another international cap, but he was relieved that time was on his side.

That’s what made the call from Oxtoby even more special, even if it didn’t click at first.

“Tanya called me a few days before the email arrived,” Perry explained. “She wanted to tell me myself that I was chosen, and I really appreciated that. I thought that was a really good thing of her.

“She said they wanted to give me a chance because they were paying attention to me and I was performing well.

“I don’t think it really hit home until his team was announced.

“After that, my phone was like a hot potato. I got so many messages, so that stuck with me. I was really grateful that everyone was reaching out to me.”