FORMER Swindon Town and Wales defender Paul Bodin spoke of his relief after watching his national team finally end their long wait to play at a World Cup on Sunday.

Gareth Bale’s deflected free-kick helped Wales beat Ukraine 1-0 in the European play-off final, consequently ending a 64-year wait for qualification onto football’s biggest stage.

In 1993, Bodin was part of a talented Welsh side that missed out on a place at the USA’s hosting a year later when the full-back rattled the crossbar with a penalty.

Wales lost 2-1 to Romania on that occasion, while failures against Scotland in 1977 and 1985 preceded yet more qualification pain against the Republic of Ireland in 2017.

But under Bodin’s former colleague, Rob Page, Wales made it to a World Cup for the first time since 1958.

Asked if he felt relieved people might not bring his name up every time there is a World Cup qualification process, Bodin said: “There’s relief in that we hadn’t qualified for 64 years but now we have.

“The fact that I was a part of a generation where we were so close but couldn’t quite get over the line, it is more of a relief.

“But there have been other generations where they’ve also been so close and never quite got there, and you wondered if we ever would.

“But this group of players is fantastic. There have been comparisons with the team that I played in.

“Certainly not me, but the likes of Ian Rush, Neville Southall, Mark Hughes, Ryan Giggs, Gary Speed – that team was littered with some world-class talent, and they unfortunately never got to play on that top stage.”

Almost 10 years to the day after Bodin joined Wales’ Under 17s coaching staff as Geraint Hughes’ assistant, the ex-Town hero now oversees the Under-21s set-up as manager.

Bodin was immensely proud of the fact that eight of Page’s 28-man squad for Sunday are still eligible to play for him but have taken that next step early to help their country achieve history.

The 57-year-old is now hopeful the entire squad can continue its forward momentum once the tournament gets underway in the winter.

Bodin said: “I know people talk about Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey, Joe Allen, Dan James – one thing they have got is serious team spirit.

“And with a couple of those players I’ve mentioned, they’re genuinely world class and they give the rest of the squad and the country great hope when you’re going into a game like that.

“They’ve qualified for the last two European Championships, so they’ve got that great experience to call on. They reached the semi-finals in one, and they’ve now built on that.

“Rob Page has done an incredible job, and the players have obviously taken to him.

“It’s great to see so many players that I’ve worked with become a part of Welsh football history by qualifying for a World Cup.”