Wales players back Page after 'unjustified' boos

Wes Burns (second left) and team-mates applaud Wales' fans in Portugal

Wales’ players have offered their support to Rob Page after the manager was booed by fans following Thursday’s woeful draw with minnows Gibraltar.

The goalless friendly in Portugal against a Gibraltar side ranked 203rd in the world prompted an angry response from travelling supporters, some of who chanted, “we want Page out”.

Page, who had been criticised earlier in his tenure, said he understood why he was jeered, but Ipswich Town midfielder Wes Burns and Wolverhampton Wanderers goalkeeper Tom King defended their boss.

“We’re fully behind the manager. We fully support everything he and his staff are doing,” said King, who made his debut as a half-time substitute in the game.

“The boos are a little bit unjustified but we’re victims of our own success. We’ve been extremely successful over the past few years. We were one kick away from another major tournament [having missed out on Euro 2024 qualification after a penalty shootout defeat by Poland in March].

King acknowledged that Wales' display against Gibraltar had been "below the level".

"But if you’re talking about what’s coming in the future, there’s a real group of young players coming through," he added.

“I wish there weren’t the boos, that taints it (his debut) a bit, but the fans are entitled to their opinion. They want to see goals, they want to see action and they’ve travelled a long way.”

Burns started the game, played at Estadio Do Algarve near Faro in Portugal, to earn his seventh senior cap for Wales.

Asked if he and the rest of the squad backed Page, Burns said: “Yeah, 100%. He’s done unbelievable things with this group. After you’ve been so successful in years gone by, people assume you’ll always do well.

“Sometimes you have to block out the outside noise. As a group, we know what we’ve achieved in the past and what we can achieve going forward.

“Sometimes it can be frustrating – they (Wales' fans) have travelled all this way and want to see us win and score goals. But we’ve got to be patient and the fans need to work with us on that. We’re a young group and we’re all coming together.”