YANKEY GOES INTERNATIONAL

I won my first international cap for the England women's team during my first season at Arsenal. I was picked to play, aged 16, in a friendly against Scotland.

At the time there was only one England women's team. Now there are U16 and U18 teams. I played for the U18 side on a number of occasions before regularly being selected for the full side.

International games tend to be a lot faster than league matches, especially when you face a really good side. You find yourself having a lot less time on the ball and personally a lot less opportunities in front of goal. But I get an extra buzz from playing for England - I feel an extra sense of pride when wearing the national shirt.

The game against the Ukraine when we qualified for the Euro 2001 was very memorable. It was the first time the team had qualified for a major championship for five years and the match was played in front of a then record crowd (more than 7,000) for a women's international in England.

And of course I scored our second goal not long after coming on as a substitute.