CWMBRAN'S Christian Doidge is hopeful that banging in the goals for Hibs can earn a Wales call-up in the countdown to Euro 2020.

The 27-year-old, who previously played for Croesyceiliog and Cwmbran Celtic, is currently thriving at Easter Road.

Doidge has scored 15 goals in his first season with Hibernian to give Wales boss Ryan Giggs food for thought.

International football was a major in Doidge heading for the Scottish Premiership after spending last season at Bolton Wanderers and Forest Green Rovers.

"When I sat down and decided where to go, one of the big reasons was to try and get in the window for an opportunity to play for Wales," said Doidge, who features on S4C's Mwy o Sgorio.

"Obviously by scoring goals, you're going to get a little bit of an interest. I know how hard it's going to be to break into that squad and all I can do is work really hard and try and impress the manager somehow.

"I was a Man Utd fan growing up and I had Giggs on the back of my shirt - he's someone I really looked up to as a kid and now he's manager of the national team which is really good."

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Doidge took time to settle at Hibs, failing to find the net in his first nine league outings, but has now settled in Edinburgh.

He said: "I would definitely say that I started quite slowly. I'm not doing anything different now to what I was doing before, it's just that the goals are going in, and as a striker, that happens sometimes.

"It's obviously a high-pressure job, you're up front and wearing the number nine shirt, but I feel like I'm doing a good job for the football club at the moment and hopefully I can continue to do that."

It's been a whirlwind few years for the striker, who at one point was training to be a police community officer while plying his trade for Carmarthen Town in the Welsh Premier League.

A trial with Dagenham and Redbridge in 2014 led to his first professional contract, before he made his name during three prolific seasons at Forest Green Rovers, either side of an ill-fated loan move at Bolton last season which was cut short due to the club's well-documented financial problems.

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He said: "When I was younger I probably thought I wasn't good enough to play in the Welsh Premier League, let alone the Football League, so I met up with Nathan Blake and he managed to get me a trial at Dagenham and Redbridge.

"After three or four days, they decided that they wanted to sign me so I was obviously amazed and so excited by it.

"The last couple of years, there have been quite a few players who have gone from the Welsh Premier League into the English league and I don't see why teams in Scotland shouldn't look into the Welsh Premier for some hidden gems. You've got some real talent down there.

"It was a dream move playing for Bolton in the Championship - massive stadium, loads of fans and I was so excited to get up there, but I soon realised the problems that they were in.

"I went back to Forest Green after that and I had to get my head turned back pretty quickly. It was a tough season but we managed to get to the semi-finals of the play-offs, but that was probably one game too much.

"For my next move, I wanted to make sure that it was a really good one for me after the drama with Bolton, because I was at a really good place with Forest Green. Hibs just ticked a lot of boxes for me.

"It's a fantastic football club and it's in a great league, great stadium and I'm really enjoying myself here."

Watch the whole interview with Christian Doidge on Mwy o Sgorio, on demand at S4C Clic, https://www.s4c.cymru/clic/programme/805605076 , and BBC iPlayer. English subtitles available.