Wales U21s players ruled out by admin issue

Rubin Colwill (L) and Owen Beck are already on Wales boss Craig Bellamy's radar

Wales Under-21s have been forced to name a squad without key players including senior international Rubin Colwill because of an administrative error.

Wales face the Czech Republic in Newport on Friday evening looking to seal a place in the play-offs for next summer’s European Under-21 Championship.

But manager Matty Jones was told just hours before kick-off he would be without several players, including nine-cap Colwill and Owen Beck who dropped out of Craig Bellamy’s senior squad on Thursday night.

Jones expressed his disappointment and promised a “vigorous review” into the error, but said he was confident of players stepping in.

It has forced Jones to name an understrength bench, with three spare places and no reserve goalkeeper.

Only players who were registered to face Iceland in last month’s qualifier were discovered to be eligible.

They include full caps Charlie Savage and captain Finn Stevens with both selected to start the final group fixture.

Jones told BBC Sport Wales: “There’s been an administrative error and issue we’ve been dealing with the last number of hours which has led to key players like Rubin and Owen being pulled out of our squad

“It is really deflating, but we’ve spoken about siege mentality and making this a challenge for the rest of the squad because we’ve managed without those players when they’ve been successful to go to the senior squad.

"We would have loved to have had them, but at the same time we are still confident that the processes we’ve put in place mean those stepping in know their roles.

“We’re fully confident and the players who have stepped in have taken it in their stride.

“It’s about us learning as a staffing group and an association and there will be a vigorous review to find the answers and to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

Wales need a point to seal a runners-up spot and a place in next month’s play-offs, while a win would see them top the group ahead of leaders Denmark’s final fixture on Tuesday.

Jones said the day had been “challenging” but added: “Hopefully we have managed the ripple effect in the right way, that players feel confident to compete and battle for success that we’ve been working for in this group. We always speak about the collective and today has been really showcasing that.”