Bodin backs Jephcott to bounce back from drought

WALES Under-21 manager Paul Bodin has backed Luke Jephcott to bounce back from what appears to be missing out on Euro 2020 selection.

Plymouth striker Jephcott made a strong case for a late European Championship call-up to Robert Page’s senior squad by scoring 18 goals before mid-february.

But Aberystwyth-born Jephcott then suffered a 19-game goal drought, scuppering hopes of promotion which was seemingly confirmed when he failed to make Wales’s preeuros training camp in Portugal this week.

“It probably has for the Euros, the fact he’s not in their group in Portugal,”

Bodin said of the 21-year-old’s likely senior omission when naming Jephcott in his squad for Wales’s opening 2023 European Under-21 Championship qualifier at home to Moldova on Friday, June 4.

“He’s had an incredible start to his professional career. Yes, he dried up.

“But I watched him a number of times and the team wasn’t playing with the fluidity and creating the opportunities he was getting earlier in the season.

“He was still getting into good positions. Luke’s a great goalscorer, works his socks off, and is so honest.

“I think he will get his (Wales) chance if he continue to score as he has done, albeit not in the last couple of months, because goalscorers are at a premium.”

Cardiff striker Rubin Colwill did reach Page’s Portugal training camp despite making just six appearances for the Bluebirds.

The 19-year-old is expected to join up with the under-21s should he not be included in the 26-man Euros squad that Page announces on Sunday.

Wales are without Cardiff goalkeeper George Ratcliffe, Swansea defender Brandon Cooper and Stoke forward Christian Norton through injury for their opening under-21 qualifier against Moldova in Llanelli.

Top seeds Holland, Switzerland, Bulgaria and Gibraltar complete Group E.

Wales Under-21 squad: L Webb (Swansea), N Shepperd (Brentford), D Barden (Norwich), B Sass Davies (Yeovil, on loan from Crewe), M Boyes (Liverpool), B Margetson (Cardiff), E Jones (Stoke), C Evans (Waterford, on loan from Swansea), F Stevens (Brentford), N Huggins (Leeds), T Taylor (Burton), S Bowen (Cardiff), S Spence (Crystal Palace), S Pearson (Bristol City), J Adams (Brentford), L Jephcott (Plymouth), L Collins (Newport), E Thorpe (Tottenham), R Hughes (Everton), J Vale (Blackburn), R Stirk (Birmingham).