Debut joy for Eastwood

Debutant Freddy Eastwood scored in the first half to give a young Wales side an impressive 1-0 win over Bulgaria in Bourgas.

Boss John Toshack was stripped of the majority of his first choice side - but his battling side made sure of a victory which will do much for their confidence ahead of daunting Euro 2008 qualifiers - Germany head for Cardiff soon.

Toshack, his side already hit by a string of absentees, sprung a surprise by leaving Derby's Robert Earnshaw on the bench and naming an extra midfielder in David Vaughan, with Wolves striker Eastwood as the lone striker.

Peterborough's Craig Morgan also got the nod in a five-man defence, Gareth Bale made the starting line-up for his first game of the season after a thigh injury, while Andrew Crofts made his first start for Wales in midfield.

Bulgaria were led at the compact Lazur Stadium by Manchester City's Martin Petrov, and included Leicester's Radostin Kishishev and Aston Villa's Stiliyan Petrov also in the side.

With the Black Sea as a backdrop and the temperatures in the 90s, Wales were immediately on the back foot trying to contain the flow of the Bulgarians, who were happy to attack down both flanks.

In the 13th minute Wayne Hennessey produced a fine save, palming away a 25 yard free-kick from Martin Petrov, and from that clearance Wales at last built a decent move and almost scored.

Then Eastwood struck in first-half injury time.

The Essex-born sharpshooter is known for his long range efforts - Manchester United coming a cropper to one of his efforts in the Carling Cup for Southend last year - and he stunned the home side and their fans with a brilliant 20-yard effort into the bottom corner.

And Hennessey needed to make a great save when Velizar Dimitrov was clean through, and an impressive defensive effort from Wales was almost undone when Daniel Gabbidon sliced a clearance against a post as the pressure mounted, but Toshack's men held on.