FREDDY Eastwood enjoyed a dream debut with Wales last night, scoring the only goal in their 1-0 win in Bulgaria.

The former Grays Athletic and Southend United striker, who hails from Basildon, clinically converted from 20 yards on the stroke of half time.

And that earned him praise from manager John Toshack.

"It was a really special goal. Freddy knew just what he wanted to do and worked his way into a position to crack it home," said the former Liverpool forward.

"With Freddy, we have got a player up front who knows his business.

"We have been aware of his goalscoring exploits and have worked hard to make sure he became a Wales international."

Eastwood spent three seasons at Southend, scoring 65 goals in 135 games, before opting to join Wolverhamp-ton Wanderers for £1.5million during the summer.

He has impressed already while with the Midlanders and, thanks to his Welsh-born grandfather, he now looks likely to do the same on the international stage.

"We have produced several decent performances against sides of late and have had several 0-0 draws because when we have had chances we've missed them," added Toshack.

"But Freddy will score and the goal, when it came at that point, gave everybody a real lift.

"When you have been battling away like that, to have someone at the sharp end give you a lift like that is very important.

"Our boys came in at the break really buzzing, and it gave them all confidence to go out and finish the job.

"It also deflated Bulgaria. They struggled in the second half until that late onslaught."

Eastwood's excellent eff-ort maintained his record of scoring in all of his senior debuts.

He memorably netted a hat-trick against Swansea City in his first ever appearance for Southend United and also scored for Wolves in a 2-1 Carling Cup triumph over Bradford City in his opening match at Molineux.

Eastwood's international outing came just 24 hours after another Basildon boy - Michael Kightly - played the opening half for England under 21s against Romania.

Eastwood now seems certain to keep his place in the squad when Wales face Germany in a European Championship qualifier at the start of next month.

The Germans warmed up for that fixture at the Millennium Stadium with a 2-1 win against England at Wembley last night.

Frank Lampard gave the home-side an early lead but the Germans fought back to secure a narrow triumph.

New West Ham United midfielder Kieron Dyer came on during the second half, but he could not help his side get back into the game.

It was a different story for his Irons team-mate George McCartney, though, as he returned to the Northern Ireland side for their 3-1 win over Lichtenstein.