NEWPORT’S Chris Gunter admits the Welsh squad feel the hand of history on their shoulders, with the chance to end 58-years of hurt this weekend.

Wales travel to Bosnia on Saturday knowing that a point will be enough to see them secure major qualification for the first time since 1958.

But Gunter insists the players feel duty only to their supporters, as opposed to some of the great Welsh players who didn’t ever make it to a major tournament, with the heartache of the past spurring them on.

“The fans have a massive part to play, we had years of struggling to sell tickets, in stadiums three-quarters empty, but from the beginning of this campaign it’s been different,” he explained.

“Andorra was a nightmare to get too, even worse for the fans, but they filled the away end and it has snowballed from there.

“The atmosphere against Belgium was amazing, away in Cyprus the fans were unbelievable and it’s nice to repay that support with good results.

“It’s important for them to know how much we appreciate them.

“We focus on the group here now, not doing it for the teams that didn’t make it in the past.

“This group has been together for a long-time, hasn’t changed a great deal in 18-months and when we do qualify, it’ll be massive to be the first group to do that.

“In a way it is a bit selfish, we want to do that and we’ve put ourselves in a great position.”

Gunter admits the ghosts of near misses past do have a galvanising effect.

“The near misses are there as a reminder than in football even the most unlikely thing can happen until the job is done,” he said.

“We’ve worked so hard for so long, it’d be a massive mistake to get complacent and think the job is done.

“We never start talking about what is to come, not once did we talk about winning the games in the last qualifiers, it’s always aiming for a good performance.

“You have to do your job; you don’t get given easy points.”

Gunter insists the players can’t think about qualifying.

“We do think about it, but because we’ve never experienced it, nobody really knows. We’ve literally never been here before and all the way through we’ve kept our feet on the floor,” he said.

“If we start thinking we’ll be celebrating on Saturday night (in Bosnia), we’ll be caught out. It’s a really tough game. We have done well because we’ve always prepared in the right way.

“Until we’ve qualified we have to concentrate as anything can happen.”