Derby County’s Tom Lawrence and Joe Ledley suffered World Cup heartbreak with Wales as they missed out on the chance to reach next summer’s finals on Monday evening.
Lawrence and Ledley played the full 90 minutes in Cardiff as Wales fell to a 1-0 defeat against the Republic of Ireland in their final 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier.
A win would have secured second spot and a play-off berth during November for Chris Coleman’s side.
However, West Bromwich Albion’s James McClean fired home the only goal of the game at the Cardiff City Stadium to confirm Ireland’s place as runners-up in Group D.
Derby skipper Richard Keogh was an unused substitute for Ireland, who defended manfully under heavy Welsh pressure to finish second behind group winners Serbia.
Lawrence, Ledley and Keogh will now report back for duty with the Derby squad ahead of Sunday’s home game against Nottingham Forest.
Keogh and his Ireland team-mates will find out their play-off opponents on Tuesday 17th October.
