Wales U21 1-2 Republic of Ireland U21

Friday, 26 March, Colliers Park, Wrexham

ABERYSTWYTH-born Luke Jephcott led the line for Wales Under-21s in the 2-1 defeat against Republic of Ireland at Wrexham on Friday night.

The friendly international marked the start of a new era for both nations with a number of players making their debut for their country at this level ahead of the 2023 UEFA U21 EURO qualifiers later this year.

The first U21 meeting between the two countries began with a strong wind that pushed both teams to play the ball on the pristine surface in the opening exchanges, with Billy Sass-Davies enjoying plenty of the ball at the back for Wales early on. With the in-form Plymouth Argyle striker Luke Jephcott leading from the front, there was an obvious outlet for Paul Bodin’s side in attack.

Wales had the wind in their favour in the opening half, and the difficulty of controlling the ball in the conditions were clear when Morgan Boyes’ early cross-field ball to Niall Huggins drifted out of reach of the Leeds United youngster. However, the visitors quickly settled into the game in the bright sunshine, and began to enjoy longer periods of possession even though they failed to test goalkeeper Lewis Webb.

Joe Adams opened the scoring for the home side on 12 minutes as he capitalised on some great work from Huggins to produce a fine finish past Brian Mahar into the corner of the net. It would prove to be the only shot on target in the opening half. The goal certainly helped Wales regain control and it visibly lifted their confidence as they moved the ball quickly between the lines and forced the visitors to defend deeper into their own half.

Sheppard was called into action on 57 minutes to save from Ireland captain Lee O’Connor from close range following a rare lapse in concentration from the Wales defence.

Both teams made an expected string of substitutions in the final 20 minutes, and on 73 minutes Ryan Stirk had a great opportunity to double the advantage for Wales but failed to hit the target. It would prove to be a costly miss, as just three minutes later, Jim Crawford’s side levelled as Jonathan Afolabi made no mistake from a cross from the right.

Within a minute Ireland were ahead following a defensive mix-up between Boyes and Shepperd to complete a hugely frustrating period in the game for Wales as the score was completely turned around against the run of play. The two goals certainly altered the dynamic of the match, and Afolabi came close to adding a third goal for the visitors on the 80 minute mark.