GOALS from Andre Horta and Joao Felix earned Portugal a 2-0 victory over Wales in their latest UEFA U21 qualifier at Bangor City.

A crowd of 625 at the VSM Stadium welcomed the two teams for what was an important game in the qualifying group, with the visitors holding a three-point lead over Wales heading into the match.

The visitors enjoyed the better of the possession in the early stages without really testing Luke Pilling. However, Joe Morrell came close to putting Wales ahead inside the opening five minutes, but his close range effort narrowly went the wrong side of the post.

George Thomas called Portuguese keeper Joel Pereira into action on 10 minutes with a fine strike. Wales were visibly lifted by their early opportunities, but the visitors quickly settled back into the match, and Andre Horta opened the scoring on 35 with a superb long range effort that gave Pilling no chance.

Portugal were reduced to ten-men just before the hour mark as referee Mykola Balakin showed a second yellow card to Yuri Ribeiro following a late tackle on the impressive Daniel James. The extra man advantage provided Wales with their best spell of the match, and the introduction of Rabbi Matondo offered another dimension to the attack.

Despite creating a string of chances, Wales were left frustrated when Joao Felix fired the decisive second goal from the edge of the area after 73 minutes.

The second goal took away any momentum that Wales had built up in the second half, but the young side continued to push for a consolation, with Matondo and James both testing goalkeeper Pereira before the final whistle.

There was better fortune for the young Welsh stars on Friday evening at the same venue, with a Thomas brace enough to give Page’s men a 2-1 triumph over Liechtenstein.