WELSH semi-pro boss Tomi Morgan last night held out an olive branch to Newport County favourite Garry Shephard.

The prolific Exiles striker stormed out early from Wales' final Home Nations Championship match with the Republic of Ireland at Haverfordwest's Bridge Meadow Stadium in May following a disagreement with Morgan.

At the time, Shephard vowed never to wear the red shirt of Wales again as long as Morgan was in charge.

The 28-year-old was seething after playing only 90 seconds in Wales' three-match four nations campaign and was upset that he was the only member of the 18-man squad not to get a start.

Shephard, hailed as one of Wales' deadliest marksmen in non-league football, was bemused that even though the Welsh had no chance of winning the tournament, Morgan didn't give him a run-out against the Irish.

But Morgan finally opened-up last night and hopes Shephard will now link up with the Wales set-up if he's picked.

"At the end of the day, football is about opinions," said Morgan. "And on that day Garry obviously felt my opinion in leaving him out the side wasn't good enough.

"But I am the manager and my job is to make those difficult decisions."

Morgan added: "Put it like this, I have been Wales manager for ten internationals and he's the first player to have walked out on me.

"And bearing in mind I've left a lot of good players out in my time that speaks volumes.

"But I don't bear any grudges, if I did I wouldn't last very long in football. I will leave the door open for Garry. It's up to him. He knows my phone number."

* Newport County will play AFC Wimbledon tomorrow at Spytty Park (3pm) for the annual Billy Lucas Cup.

Lucas was boss of the old County on three separate occasions between the 1950s and 1970s and is a legend with Newport's fans.

He was a landlord who ran several pubs in the Newport area as well as managing County. Last year County lost the memorial cup to Steaua Bucharest.