MacDONALD LOOKS TO PLAY-OFFS

Flynn - side lost to Romania on Wednesday.

Swansea youngster Shaun MacDonald believes Wales Under-21s have the character to still reach the UEFA championship play-offs.

Boss Brian Flynn saw his side lose 1-0 at Wrexham against the unbeaten Romanians on Wednesday, wrecking the prospect of Wales winning the group.

Now they must go to Romania on September 9 for their final match in the group, knowing only victory will ensure they reach the play-offs in October.

And MacDonald, who won a very unlucky 13th cap, took the blame for the second-half goal that sent Wales crashing to defeat.

He said: "We definitely have the right mentality to get the victory we need in Romania. We have made it hard for ourselves but we can still do it.

"I take the blame for their goal. I gave away a sloppy free-kick some 40-yards out and it ends up in our net.

"We were shocked by what happened, we believed we could get the victory we needed.

"But we must keep our heads up and believe we can still do it. We have a great bunch of lads and we have worked really hard to get to this point, so I hope our team spirit can drag us through now.

"We will be okay if we stick together, it was gutting because Romania only had that one serious chance, and we created lots of chances.

"The positive thing for all of us is that we did create plenty of chances, we just have to do it again in Romania and take a few this time."

Flynn now has selection problems for the return, because it is just 24 hours before John Toshack's seniors play away to Russia in their second World Cup qualifying match.

Toshack had hoped the under-21s would have qualified for the play-offs by then, thus making it easy for him to recall the clutch of full internationals that were 'loaned' to Flynn for the Wrexham match.

Toshack has already confirmed he will almost certainly want Wayne Hennessey, David Edwards, Chris Gunter, Gareth Bale, Joe Ledley and Aaron Ramsey back in the senior squad for the trip to Russia.

Flynn, who will also have to assess the fitness of West Ham midfielder Jack Collison -who has knee ligament damage - and will select his squad next week.