BRIAN Stock admitted he was "not too disheartened" to miss out on winning his third cap after Wales' European Under-21 Championship clash against Serbia and Montenegro turned nasty.
The Cherries midfielder had a watching brief from the substitutes' bench as Wales crashed to a 3-0 defeat in an ill-tempered Group Nine qualifier in Novi Sad on Tuesday.
Visiting goalkeeper Jason Brown was allegedly subjected to "monkey chant" racist abuse from sections of the home crowd, while Wales boss Jimmy Shoulder also claimed two of his players were "assaulted" during the game.
Brown suffered a torrent of abuse every time he took a goal kick or collected the ball, incidents which could prompt the Football Association of Wales to lodge a complaint with UEFA.
And Stock's team-mates James Collins of Cardiff and Coventry's David Pipe had to be substituted by Shoulder after they had become victims of elbowing offences which went unpunished by the referee.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Echo, Stock - speaking from the Wales team hotel before he flew back to England last night - said: "It was a rough game and in a way I was glad not to get on.
"It was a very intimidating atmosphere and even when we were warming up, their supporters were verbally abusing us.
"On the one hand, it would have been nice to have come off the bench to win another cap, but on the other, it was probably a blessing in disguise that I didn't.
"I'm certainly not going to get too disheartened about it because it wasn't really the type of game for me to impress either.
"It was the worst pitch I ever seen as well - it was just like a cow field. The referee was poor and gave them everything. There was a lot of play-acting going on.
"It was a poor game and we didn't play half as well as we had played in our last four games. All in all, it was probably a good one to miss."
Despite his bad experience, Winchester-born Stock, who qualifies to play for Wales through his grandmother, is hoping to keep his place in the squad for next month's double-header against Italy and Finland.
Wales travel to Group Nine leaders Italy on September 5 before hosting the Finns at Merthyr four days later and, should Stock get the nod, he would be forced to miss Cherries' Sky-televised clash against Bristol City on September 6.
The 21-year-old added last night: "We had a good work-out in training this morning and I feel my attitude has been pretty good so we will just have to wait and see if I'm in the next squad."
Stock, drafted into the Welsh squad as an 11th-hour replacement for Notts County's Michael Brough, is due to report back to Dean Court this afternoon and will resume training with Cherries tomorrow.
He flew back with the rest of the under-21 squad after watching Wales' European Championship Group Nine qualifier against Serbia and Montenegro in the Red Star Stadium last night.
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