Dylan Lawlor to miss Wales' final Nations League fixtures with hamstring injury

Wales defender Dylan Lawlor will miss the final two Nations League fixtures — against Norway in Oslo on 14 November and Portugal in Cardiff on 17 November — after suffering a hamstring injury. He sustained the hamstring while playing for Cardiff City against Watford earlier this month and has been ruled out until after November's international break.

The 20-year-old has won six caps for Wales and had only just returned from a knee issue that kept him out at the start of the season after sustaining the original problem during the 1-1 draw with Ghana in June; he has not played for Wales since. Lawlor made his first start of the season at Blackburn on 10 October and then suffered the hamstring issue three days later, and he has made just three appearances for Cardiff City this season.

"It's naturally very disappointing," said Bluebirds head coach Brian Barry-Murphy. "He's put so much work into coming back from his knee injury that he suffered so long ago. "But this gives him a chance to do his rehabilitation properly with no rush and make sure that when he comes back, he's good to go again."

When asked if he regretted playing the defender in Cardiff's games against both Blackburn and Watford after such a long spell out, Barry-Murphy said "a little bit". Speaking prior to Cardiff's Championship match against Birmingham on Saturday, Barry-Murphy revealed Lawlor is expected to be out for around five to six weeks.

"Hindsight is an easy thing but he did a really good job against Blackburn," the Irishman added. "We wanted to give him some consistency and we needed him really so we were limited in what options we had. "It is what it is now we have to just move forward."

"I think the positive is that his knee hasn't been pain free since the Ghana game for Wales," Barry-Murphy added. "So even though when he came back against Blackburn he still had some pain in it and in the game against Watford where he got injured he wasn't totally pain-free or comfortable. "So this five or six week period, however long it is, gives us a chance to really protect his knee, strengthen it and make sure that when he does come back from this and his hamstring injury that he now has, he's in a very positive position to be fit for the remainder of the season."

Craig Bellamy's team still have a chance of avoiding relegation from League A and securing a Euro 2028 qualification seedings boost.