Town boss Kieran McKenna says winger Wes Burns has handled the disappointment of not making the Wales World Cup squad with maturity.

Welsh manager Rob Page named his squad for Qatar on Wednesday evening with Burns not among the 26 selected.

While McKenna is pleased he’ll have Burns, last season’s top scorer and Player of the Year, available to him for the upcoming fixtures, he says he’s disappointed for the Cardiff-born wideman.

“Of course. Wes has been really mature about it and really philosophical about it from the start and I think our position has been the same,” he said.

“If he had have ended up going, of course we would have been pleased for him. The fact that we have him for the games he would have missed is obviously a big boost for the team and gives us a better chance to pick up the points. He’s dealt with the situation very maturely.

“Credit to him for his form over the last 12 months that he managed to push into the squad in the summer and pick up his first caps.

“It’s very hard to do that at 27 years of age because a lot of the time the international set-ups do stick with players who have been there through the system over the last few years and it’s easier to break in when you’re 19 and 20 than it is when you’re 26, 27.

“To do that from a League One team over the last 12 months is a big credit to him for how he’s done and his complete focus now is towards doing well again for Ipswich and if he does that then we know he’ll have lots of good things ahead in his career.”

Photo: Matchday Images

OwainG1992 added 15:14 - Nov 11 Deserves to be there for me. Similar to a few of the ommited England options.
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