Gareth Bale has praised Wales captain Ashley Williams saying that he should have been voted Welsh Player of the Year ahead of him.

Bale was talking after receiving a hat-trick of individual awards at the Welsh FA awards ceremony on Tuesday night and was quick to praise his teammates, especially Swansea City star Williams.

Real Madrid ace Bale said: "It's an honour to win any award, but I'm well aware that if it wasn't for my teammates I wouldn't be picking up anything."

"I voted for Ashley Williams because he has been a rock in defence throughout the whole campaign."

"We're a close knit group, everyone encourages everybody else, but Ash is the leader of the pack and he helps make it stay that way and gets every player involved."

Wales are on the brink of qualifying for the 2016 European Championships and face Andorra and Bosnia-Herzegovina with just one point needed to guarantee qualification for they first major tournament since 1958.