WALES ended their European Championship qualifying campaign on a high at Rodney Parade tonight with a Connor Evans brace and Joseff Morrell strike giving them a 3-1 win over Switzerland.

Rob Page’s charges may not have been able to qualify for next year’s Euros but with Ryan Giggs again showing in Dublin he has no qualms about fielding talented youngsters in the senior side, those on show in Newport had the chance to stake a claim for higher honours.

And as well as supporting their country’s young guns, any Newport County fans in the sparse crowd would have had a keen eye on three of the Wales players in particular.

Firstly, former Exiles prodigy Regan Poole, who left for the bright lights of Manchester United in the summer of 2015 at the age of 17, captained the home side.

Secondly, Mo Touray, currently on loan with Barry Town United, started on the bench after being called up to the squad following Friday’s 2-0 defeat in Romania.

And thirdly, Mark Harris, on loan at County from Cardiff City, partnered Everton’s Nathan Broadhead up front.

Wales were nearly undone on 17 minutes when keeper Owen Evans saw his clearance charged down by Dimitri Oberlin and the ball landed on the roof of the hosts’ net.

The Swiss looked the better team at that point with Oberlin and co more potent going forward.

The hosts were slightly slower getting out of the blocks and a couple of mistimed challenges resulted in yellow cards for Cian Harries and Morrell in the space of a few minutes.

But Morrell turned from saint to sinner when he gave Wales the lead in the 36th minute, cutting in from the left and firing past Gregor Kobel.

Barely a minute had gone by and Wales had their second of the night.

This time Switzerland were left badly exposed in defence, Harris played in Connor Evans and he did the rest with a crisp finish into the far corner.

There was even time between both goals for Keston Davies to be booked for a foul on Michel Aebischer.

The Belgian referee was having a busy night, though at times the Welsh players seemed to be hugely frustrated with his decisions, particularly the awarding of a few soft free-kicks against the hosts.

Wales led 2-0 on the scoreboard and 3-0 in terms of cautions, but the latter changed when Derek Kutesa was cautioned for diving in the Wales box.

Swiss substitute Ruben Vargas though he had halved the deficit midway through the second half, only to be denied by Owen Evans’ fingertip save.

At the other end, Harris had the chance to make sure of the win when he was put through one-on-one with Kobel – the keeper stood tall and blocked Harris’ effort.

Substitute Andi Zeqiri then gave Switzerland hope with 15 minutes left, scrambling the ball home from close range.

But that hope was extinguished with three minutes left as Touray, on for Harris, and Morrell combined to give Connor Evans the chance to grab his second and he made no mistake.

Wales: O Evans, Poole (capt), Davies, Harries, Lewis, Burton Christie-Davies 90+3), Morrell, C Evans, Norrington-Davies, Broadhead (Babos 61), Harris (Touray 80). Subs not used: Pilling, Cullen.

Booked: Harries, Morrell, Davies, Norrington-Davies

Switzerland: Kobel, Hefti, Cumart (Zesiger 68), Knezevic, Garcia (capt), Kutesa, Bajrami, Toma (Zeqiri 66), De Oliveira (Vargas 59), Oberlin, Aebischer. Subs not used: Enzler, Ruegg, Arnold, Domgjoni.

Booked: Kutesa, Knezevic

Referee: Erik Lambrechts (Belgium)