Playing international football was nothing but a dream for Farsley AFC striker Adam Priestley until last week, when he donned the Gibraltar national shirt for their first ever international match.

He wrote his name in the history books last Tuesday as he starred in the nation’s inaugural UEFA-recognised game as they secured a shock 0-0 draw with Slovakia – a side that made it into the last 16 at the 2010 World Cup.

The 23-year-old qualifies for Gibraltar as he was born on the island when his father Adrian was serving with the Royal Air Force.

“It was an unbelievable feeling,” said Priestley. “It was like nothing I could have ever imagined.

“When I first went over, I wasn’t expecting to start because they’ve got a star striker over there.

“But when I was told I was starting I was made up, and to play in their first ever international game was a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

It was expected that the Gibraltan side would be on the end of a thumping by the end of the 90 minutes but a stubborn performance from the youngest international football team saw them come away with the draw.

And Priestley was delighted with the team’s performance, so much so that he was a little disappointed not to net their first-ever goal early on in the game.

“I did have a good chance early doors,” he said. “We picked the ball up and Jeremy Lopez ran through and rolled me in but the pass pushed me a bit wide.

“I’d gone to drill it across the goal and the defender got a slight touch and deflected it towards the front stick but the keeper made the save at the front post.

“They did have some big names missing from their squad but the fact that they’re all full-time professional players, and we’ve only got one in our whole squad, it was credit to the lads on how hard they worked to grind the result out.

“We limited them to half-chances really and it was unbelievable to get the result we did.”

Gibraltar are now preparing themselves for the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign, with the group draw taking place on February 23.

It’s a date Priestley already has in his notepad, when he hopes another dream will come true – that Gibraltar are drawn in the same group as England.

He said: “All the lads are praying that we draw Eng-land. That’s the team everyone wants so fingers crossed we’ll get drawn with them.

“We’ve got a couple of friendlies against Estonia coming up over March and May time next year, so hopefully I can keep doing well for Farsley and get myself in the squad again.”

Priestley was back plying his trade in the Evo-Stik Division One North for Farsley on Saturday afternoon against Salford City, netting a goal as his side went onto win 4-2 And he’s hoping that Farsley will be able to take their promising run of form into Saturday’s crucial match at home to play-off chasers Lancaster City.

He said: “The way we’re playing at the moment, we’re going into every game thinking we can win.

“We have had a full week off since the Salford game and had a couple of training sessions so hopefully we’ll get another three points on the board.”