Bradley gets Wales call-up

Walsall midfielder Mark Bradley has spoken of his national pride after his first call-up to the injury-ravaged Wales squad.

The Saddlers youngster, who is a regular in the under-21s, has answered boss John Toshack's SOS after he was only able to name four substitutes in their 2-1 defeat in Finland on Saturday.

Bradley will join the squad in Zurich today, before travelling to Vaduz ahead of their final Group Four game in Liechtenstein on Wednesday.

He said: "I'm delighted. To go away with the full squad is an honour and making the step up from the under-21s shows if you play well for them they can see you have potential.

"There are a lot of Premier League players in the squad and all I can do is try to do well when I'm over there. If I come off the bench I'll be delighted.

"I've been saying all season I want to play well for my club and then get a call-up and hopefully this will improve me.

"It will give me a lot of confidence, any call up gives you confidence, and hopefully I can bring that back with me and Walsall will benefit."

Bradley revealed he was expecting a call from his country. He was spoken to before the weekend and he admitted he'd had a hectic time since arriving back from the Saddlers' 1-0 defeat at MK Dons.

He said: "I had a call on Friday and they said there were a lot of injuries. They told me to keep my phone on and then I got the call to come about midday yesterday.

"It was a bit of a rush as I had to get up to Manchester this morning. I've only spoken to Martin O'Connor at the club and he just wished me all the best."

Bradley has started the last five games for the Saddlers, including the defeat in Milton Keynes. Dons striker Jermaine Easter, who scored the winner at stadium:mk, has also been called up.

They join Wolves' Dave Edwards and Sam Vokes but goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey is suspended, after being booked in Saturday's loss in Helsinki. Villa's James Collins is also in Toshack's squad.