Hennessey happy to do England a turn

Wales have endured a miserable Group G qualification campaign to date, losing all four of their games to sit bottom of the table at the halfway stage.

That leaves Gary Speed’s side with no chance of reaching next summer’s finals in Poland and Ukraine, and they enter this international double header on the back of a poor 2-1 defeat to Australia.

At the other end of the Group G table England and Montenegro are level on points and, if Wales were able to deny the Eastern Europeans a win in Cardiff tomorrow, it could add a timely boost to Capello’s qualification bid.

While the prospect of aiding England is unlikely to be welcomed by Welsh fans, Hennessey would be delighted to see Speed’s men arrest their poor recent run, and tee themselves up for Tuesday’s Wembley meeting.

He said: “We would be helping them out with a result on Friday, but I’ll take that because it’s about what we do, if our performance is good and we win a game I’m not concerned what anyone else does.

“We want a lift. Things are going well off the field, we’ve had a lot of changes but everything has been brilliant in training. Hopefully we can crack on and deliver on the pitch.

“It would be brilliant to go into Tuesday with a boost, going there with a victory and a clean sheet would be fantastic.”

When asked if the target was to help England and then trip them up, he added: “That’s what we want, that’s the plan.”

But the Wolves keeper insists that there is no danger of anyone in the Wales camp being distracted by the upcoming trip to face their closest rivals.

“As players you always look at the next game and our focus is on Montenegro who are strong and are a difficult team,” he said.

“But it’s also difficult for them to come to our place and hopefully we can put some pressure on them and start winning games.”

Wales’ travails are in stark contrast to the start to the season Hennessey has enjoyed at Wolves.

Mick McCarthy’s men are fifth in the Barclays Premier League having secured two wins and a draw from their three games so far, and Hennessey says the manager deserves all the credit for their impressive opening.

He said: “It’s been a fantastic start to the season. We’ve brought in a few players and we’re looking strong which is down to the gaffer.

“We’ve got Tottenham when we get back, which is a tough one but hopefully the wins will continue.

“He’s told me I’m number one but you never know with Mick so you have to keep playing well.

“We look a stronger team and it’s important to get points on the board whether it’s early in the season or not.

“It’s a tough league and if you don’t pick up the results when you have the chance you can really suffer.”