Wales U21 boss Geraint Williams: We won't be misled by Romania result

16 November 2015 13:01

Geraint Williams has promised his Wales Under-21 side will not be fooled by Romania's three-goal defeat to Denmark at Wrexham on Tuesday night.

Wales leapfrogged over Romania and into top spot in the 2017 European U21 Championship Group Five standings with a 2-1 victory over Armenia on Friday afternoon.

A few hours later Romania suffered a 3-0 home defeat to Denmark which left them a point behind Wales having played a game more.

"We've watched that game over and while the scoreline suggests it was one-sided the performance does not," Wales U21 boss Williams said.

"Denmark scored a couple of goals against the run of play and the third one came from a counter-attack late in the game when Romania were pushing forward.

"We will not be lulled into a false sense of security because we know they're a good team and, if they were to beat us, then they would be top of the group."

Harry Wilson's injury-time winner against Armenia gave Wales 10 points from four games and another victory would put them in a strong position at the halfway stage of the campaign.

Wilson has had to cope with the expectation of being Wales' youngest ever senior international after he was capped against Belgium in October 2013 at the age of 16 years and 207 days, eclipsing the previous record of a certain Gareth Bale.

But Williams feels the 18-year-old Liverpool midfielder, who is currently on loan at League One Crewe, is maturing quickly.

"I don't like to single out individuals as it's a team effort, but Harry is a young man with great talent," Williams said.

"He won his Wales cap in Belgium in exceptional circumstances as 14 players pulled out on that occasion, but he has done a lot of hard work with us and Liverpool in trying to make the transition from boys' football to men's football.

"Physically, he is one of the smallest players on the pitch at this level and he is young enough to play in the next Under-21 competition.

"But he can nullify the physicality of other players by getting into spaces and running with the ball, and showed wonderful composure to take that chance and get us those two extra points against Armenia."

Crewe's Callum Saunders, son of the former Wales striker and current Chesterfield manager Dean, has been called into the squad to replace Swansea's Owain Jones, who has dropped out with a knee injury.

Source: PA