Crawley boss Richie Barker has tipped defender Joe Walsh for a possible full international call-up by the end of the season.

Walsh misses today’s clash with Gillingham after playing the full 90 minutes for Wales under-21s in their 1-0 European Championship qualifying defeat in San Marino last night.

The former Swansea City defender is also due to play against Moldova on Tuesday with Wales facing Lithuania and San Marino at home next month as they bid to qualify for the tournament in Czech Republic in 2015.

Walsh helped Crawley achieve their first clean sheet of the season in the 2-0 win at Peterborough last week and Barker admits it is a shame he will not be able to continue his promising partnership with Kyle McFadzean today.

But Barker says it is a situation Crawley will have to get used to with Walsh capable of breaking into Chris Coleman’s senior Wales squad if he continues the progress he has made at the Checkatrade.com Stadium.

Barker said: “It’s a shame we won’t have Joe as we would like to try to get a settled back four but in a way we are the victims of our own success.

“Joe wasn’t even in Swansea’s reverses when he joined us but now he is an established member of Wales under-21s and hopefully he can push himself further towards the full squad.

“Centre-back is one of Wales’ strongest positions but if he carries on playing the way he did against Peterborough he won’t be far off come the end of the season.”