ROB Page has revealed that striker Mark Harris was the first player to learn of his World Cup squad inclusion after the Wales boss phoned the Cardiff City man by mistake.

Page was recently watching the Bluebirds in Championship action to cast his eye over the 23-year-old forward as part of his preparations for the tournament, which begins on Sunday.

However, just days after watching the frontman, head coach Page called Harris having been trying to contact the Football Association of Wales' head of football operations Mark Evans.

“There was one person, one player, who I had to tell that he was in the squad," said Page.

"I went to watch Cardiff City play last Saturday. I went to watch Mark Harris. I went to phone Mark Evans in the week after the game, and this is how bad my eyes have gone, I accidentally phoned Mark Harris, and cancelled.

"Within two minutes he’s phoning me back. He’s obviously putting two and two together and gone ‘he watched me, I bet he’s phoning me to tell me I’m not in the squad’. I just had to message him to say ‘you’re in, don’t stress’. But everybody else had to wait.”

Harris, who enjoyed a loan spell with Newport County AFC during the 2018-2019 season, has five caps to his name and has netted three goals in 22 appearances for the Bluebirds this season.

He arrived in Doha with the rest of the Wales squad on Tuesday ahead of their opening game against the USA on Monday.

Harris was joined on the plane by another former Exiles loanee as Ollie Cooper has travelled as a standby player.

The 22-year-old midfielder was a big hit at Rodney Parade last season and has become a regular in the Swansea City team at the start of this campaign.