Michael Sparkes has scored his first international goal for Wales.
The Celtic striker switched from Scotland to the Welsh last season and netted in the 5-1 defeat against Portugal in an u-17 European Championship qualifier.
The result wasn’t memorable but the young Celt showed his eye for goal by launching himself onto a header to score from close range.
Vs Portugal ???????? @FAWales @Cymru pic.twitter.com/XXe6xJ5ydA
— Michael Sparkes (@mikeysparkes14) October 17, 2018
A 1-0 defeat in the previous match to Kazakhstan meant that the Welsh failed to progress to the next phase after drawing their opening game 2-2 with Belarus.
As they proved in Dublin last night, when a youthful side without Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey beat Ireland 1-0, the Welsh seem to have a system in place to develop their young talent through to the highest level.
Appointing Ryan Giggs to replace Chris Coleman has built on the momentum generated after reaching the semi-finals of Euro 2016.
At club level Sparkes is playing for Celtic’s u-18 side with the next step up being to move into Tommy McIntyre’s reserve squad.