Former Wolves, Chesterfield, Yeovil Town and Northampton Town star on brink of European qualification

Former Wolves defender Mark Little is on the verge of qualifying for the Europa Conference League.

The 35-year-old these days is playing his club football at Welsh side Penybont. He joined them in 2022 after leaving Yeovil Town and is hopeful of playing in Europe for a second summer in a row. Penybont play Caernarfon Town on Saturday (May 18) in a play-off final to decide which team will be representing Wales in UEFA's third tier competition.

Little played in Europe last year after Penybont finished third in the Cymru Premier, the top flight of Welsh football but they exited to Andorran side FC Santa Coloma in the first qualifying round. The prize money for qualifying for the Europa Conference League is worth £128.5k.

“This is what I’ve come to Penybont to do; to get them into Europe,” said Little to the FAW.

“I finished my career in England, and in my head, I was half retiring. Griff asked me to come and have a season with the club and try help them achieve what they haven’t done before. We did that, and it was an amazing feeling.

“Now, I just want to do it again this year, because getting into Europe was our aim. To be able to complete the goal in two consecutive years would be an amazing achievement, and we will be going all guns blazing to do it this weekend.”

Worcester-born Little began his career at Wolves and signed a professional deal in August 2005. He appeared 26 times in the 2006/07 Championship season under Mick McCarthy but fell out of favour and had two separate loan spells at Northampton Town, as well as stints with Chesterfield and Peterborough United.

The right-back departed Molineux permanently in 2010 for the Posh and had four seasons there before playing for Bristol City, Bolton Wanderers and Bristol Rovers. Little's last club in England was Yeovil Town, playing 20 times for the Glovers before he was released. Since then, Little has gone to play 61 times for Penybont, and last week netted his first goal for the club in the 5-0 dismantling of Newtown.

Should supporters of Wolves or any of his former clubs want to watch him in action then the game will be broadcast on Welsh language channel S4C. English commentary is available on their YouTube and Facebook feeds.