Aberystwyth-born striker Luke Jephcott set up Wales’ only goal in a superb performance by Paul Bodin’s Under-21s in a narrow 2-1 defeat against UEFA U21 EURO 2021 qualification campaign group winners Germany in Braunschweig on Tuesday night.

The Plymouth Argyle forward had been singled out for praise by Bodin after the penultimate group stage game against Moldova last week when the young Welsh Dragons secured a comfortable 3-0 win at Wrexham’s Racecourse ground.

And he was equally as effective in the final game.

Wales suffered an early setback when Lukas Nmecha slotted home a controversial penalty and fell further behind nine minutes later, with a superb finish from Jonathan Burkradt who cut in from the left-hand side and found the far corner from the edge of the box.

In between the goals, Nmecha missed another penalty as Wales were put under the cosh early on.

Despite the setback, Wales bounced back and their counter-attack play caused issues for the German defence.

Their efforts were rewarded 10 minutes before half time, when a flick on from Jephcott found Mark Harris in the box, who made no mistake in slotting the ball past the keeper into the bottom corner

Both sides upped the pace in the second half with Wales looking to create opportunities on the counter-attack.

Their best chance fell to captain Regan Poole, who just failed to get contact with the ball following a goalmouth scramble resulted from a corner.

The result means that Wales finished fourth in what was a difficult group featuring group winners Germany, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Moldova.

Bodin said: “We started quite well and then there was a penalty which we all thought, and having watched on video, definitely wasn’t a penalty.

“The character, spirit and the performance all round from every player, I’m absolutely delighted with them.

“To be pushing Germany at the end on their own turf to get an equaliser is a performance to be proud of.”