Wales' luckless one-cap wonder is gunning to deliver a Championship reminder with Portsmouth

Now Regan Poole is eager to end his year-long enforced exile and catch the eye of his former Wales under-15 coach Craig Bellamy to secure a recall.

The Pompey defender was granted a long-awaited international debut at the age of 25 when he started against Gibraltar in October 2023.

It represented just reward following an outstanding start to his Blues career after switching from Lincoln on a free transfer in the summer of 2023.

Yet three weeks after completing the full 90 minutes in the 4-0 friendly success over Gibraltar, Poole sustained a season-ending ACL injury to his left knee at Chesterfield in the FA Cup.

And after returning to action in September, he’s desperate to reclaim his spot in Wales’ international set-up.

He told The News: ‘Obviously I would love to get back in, I believe I can. I was in a really good bit of form when I was last selected, maybe I can pick up that form and get back in once more.

‘I was invited to the Wales training base in Cardiff during the summer and spent a week there doing my rehab. It was a great change of scenery for me. It has been a long time at Pompey’s training ground doing your rehab, so it was a nice break.

‘It’s always nice to know you’re not forgotten. For 10 months people kind of forget you play for the club, especially for Wales. They didn’t have to invite me down, it was off their own back.

‘It's not like I’ve played 50-60 odd times for them, I’ve only played once, but they still remember me.

‘It was in the summer when football had finished, Sean Connelly (Wales’ lead physio) asked me over there. The building was empty, it wasn’t a training camp, but he said he’d come in to help. A big thanks to him for that. I carried out my same schedule, it was just different scenery, talking to different people.

‘Joe Morrell was meant to go down at that time as well, but didn’t. He has been down a couple of times, though. It does get a bit tough when you’re coming into the same gym every day and doing the same stuff, it’s just a bit of a different scenery.’

It was Rob Page who handed the Pompey man his debut, yet during Poole’s time on the sidelines, Craig Bellamy took over as head coach.

Now, following six matches at the helm, Wales are unbeaten, while last week’s victory over Iceland earned them promotion to the top tier of Nations League football.

Poole added: ‘He coached me at under-15s and under-16s at Wales, I know him and hopefully I can kick on and catch his eye.

‘He wasn’t my main manager at that time, but a coach as I worked my way through the age groups. He’s a really good coach, I definitely enjoyed working with him.

‘Hopefully I can get back into the senior side and work with him again.’