Hatters history-maker earns his first Wales U17s cap in Euro qualifying defeat

Luton youngster Fin Evans made his Wales U17s debut during their opening European U17s Championships qualifying 2-1 defeat against Slovenia U17s on Wednesday.

The 16-year-old was named on the bench at the Estádio Municipal de Albufeira stadium, the home of Imortal DC in Portugal, as Chris Gunter's side fell 2-0 behind at the break, Miha Matjasec and David Jereb both on target. In the second period, Wales pulled one back when Everton youngster Shea Pita found the net, before Evans came on for George Robinson with 23 minutes to go.

The Hatters’ history-maker, having become the club’s youngest ever senior goalscorer in their 3-1 Vertu Trophy group stage win over Brighton & Hove Albion U21s last month, was then booked with 11 minutes left, as Wales couldn’t find an equaliser. They will now take on hosts Portugal in their second match on Saturday, kick-off at 2pm.

» Luton’s teenage midfielder Dylan Stitt was an unused substitute as Northern Ireland’s U19s produced a solid performance to beat Malta U19 1-0 in their European U19s qualifying round clash at the Centenary Stadium in Ta’Qali on Wednesday. James Simpson scored the only goal of the game on 25 minutes as Stitt, who has been capped six times by his county at this age-group, will be hoping to feature when Northern Ireland take on Azerbaijan, who lost to Czechia in their first match, on Saturday, kick-off at 1.30pm.

» Luton Town U18s bounced back from their disappointing FA Youth Cup exit at the hands of Barnet with a thumping 6-1 victory over Bristol Rovers in their Youth Alliance contest on Saturday. Joe Deeney’s side had to wait until the 24th minute to take the lead, Dawid Gawel racing clear to put the Hatters ahead at The Brache, before he made it 2-0 just before the break, taking Alvin Isufi’s pass in his stride to bend an effort into the net.

After the interval, Luton upped the ante to lead 3-0 when Fin Evans’ cross was turned home by Sam Hincapie-Alfonso. A defensive mix-up saw Rovers pull a goal back, but the three-goal cushion was restored when good work from Harry Fox teed up Hincapie-Alfonso to score his second with an emphatic strike.

Fox, who also made his senior debut in the Vertu Trophy recently, got his name on the scoresheet on 71 minutes with a superb low drive from 30 yards after being teed up by Archie Shepherd, before the scoring was completed when Rufus Barnes fired home his first goal of the season from six yards.

Speaking to the Town official website, Deeney said: “The biggest thing was to shake off the disappointment of losing to Barnet. It was important to get back to winning ways. We told the players of the importance of reacting to disappointment and how you bounce back, so we were really pleased with their reaction. We haven’t been ourselves in recent weeks so to be back at it and record such a well-deserved victory was fantastic and all credit to the players.”