Misery for Leeds United star upon personal first with unfortunate own contribution in setback

A proud international first for Leeds United star Ethan Ampadu turned into a miserable night which included an unfortunate personal contribution.

Whites midfielder Ampadu was named captain of the Wales national side for the first time in his career for Sunday night’s friendly in Slovakia - but the game ended in a 4-0 defeat in which Ampadu scored an own goal.

Whites winger Dan James also started the contest whilst Leeds youngster Charlie Crew was an unused substitute, the defeat piling the pressure on Dragons boss Rob Page whose side had failed to qualify for the Euros.

The contest marked a second friendly in the space of four days for Wales who were held to a goalless draw in Thursday night’s clash against minnows Gibraltar at the Estadio Algarve.

Page had named a very young side for the Gibraltar game for which Ampadu was not involved and James on the bench.

Three days later, the Dragons boss made seven changes to his side for Sunday’s friendly in Trnava for which Ampadu came back into the team and wore the captain’s armband for the first time.

The first half looked set to end goalless but Juraj Kucka fired the Euros-bound hosts ahead one minute before the interval and Robert Bozenik doubled Slovakia’s advantage 11 minutes after the break as he stormed in behind Ampadu to net from close range.

Slovakia then pressed for a third goal and got it just four minutes later as an acrobatic strike across the box hit Ampadu on the chest en route to beating Dragons keeper Danny Ward.

After awful Wales defending, Slovakia then bagged a fourth goal right on the final whistle as Josh Sheehan failed to control Ampadu’s pass and the ball to Laszio Benes who rifled home a finish finish from the edge of the box

Ampadu lasted the full match whilst James stayed on for 71 minutes after his shift on the left wing. Seventeen-year-old Leeds midfielder Crew was again named on Page’s bench and stayed there.

Slovakia will now head for the Euros in which they are in the same group as Belgium, Romania and Ukraine. September’s Nations League games against Turkey and Montenegro are next on the Wales agenda.