Stand-in skipper Simon Davies believes the Welsh youngsters have proved they can handle the big occasion after the 0-0 draw with Germany.Fulham midfielder Davies belives the performance in Frankfurt rates as "one of the best of my career."

The 28-year-old was an outstanding driving force against the Germans, and said: "I am proud of the team. It was a great result for us and we can take a lot of positives from that.

"It was a confidence-boosting result for the younger players and we need more of that. We have had an up and down campaign but we need to be more consistent in the next tournament.

"We have half a dozen friendlies now and whoever we face we have got to try and get that consistency in our game. We proved tonight what we can do and it is another step in the right direction."

Davies believes the result in Germany will boost morale now, saying: "Our next game is in February against Norway and we are all looking forward to that now.

"The youngsters have already shown they can handle it and play at this level. In a stadium like Frankfurt, with the crowd and the atmosphere you can either rise to the occasion or go into your shell.

"But everyone rose to the occasion, they upped their levels of performance and gave it a right go. After the break we came under a bit of pressure, which was to be expected, but we hung in there and got the result we deserved.

"We had several playing who are still eligible for the under-21s and with their result against France the previous night, it has got to give all of us a lot of confidence.

"It has been a good couple of days for Welsh football and I am pleased for the under-21s, a lot of whom will be knocking on the door soon.

"We are looking forward to the World Cup draw but we cannot get carried away. It will count for nothing if we do not take it on from here.

"John Toshack has taken a lot of criticism but he knows what he is trying to do. This is a step in the right direction after the good draw against the Irish on Saturday.

"We knew we did not play well in Cyprus so I am sure John said that about us there for a reason. He wanted to get a reaction from us and ever since the squad met up last Monday everything has been very professional.

"We trained well, we have drawn the two games and we were disappointed not to win on Saturday. We know there is more to come but no-one gave us a chance in Germany and we put in a really good performance.

"It is a result right up there with any in my career because the Germans were jeered off at half time and to do that is a great achievement. It gives us all confidence for the future."

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