Wednesday 22 March 2017 19:58, UK
Chris Gunter will reach a new Wales caps landmark in Dublin on Friday night - but what he really wants is a first international goal.
Gunter will draw level with Craig Bellamy on 78 caps when he makes his 58th consecutive appearance against the Republic of Ireland.
Only Neville Southall (92) and Gary Speed (85) are ahead of him in the Wales all-time list and, as Gunter is still a few months short of his 28th birthday, his country's appearances record appears well within his grasp.
"Because of the summer [Wales reaching the semi-finals of Euro 2016] I got quite a large number of caps in such a short space of time," Gunter said.
"Getting this many caps is not something you think about when you start out, going past the people I have or drawing level with Craig.
"But it is nice to be mentioned alongside some of these players. It's a really proud feeling.
"People say about me getting to 100 caps, but there's still a long way to go and in football you never know what's around the corner."
While Gunter remains cautious about reaching three figures, he is not reticent about his determination to end his Wales goal drought.
The Reading full-back surpassed the most Wales appearances without a goal when he went past Kevin Ratcliffe's 59-cap mark.
"Whenever the cap question comes I know that record is going to come up," Gunter said.
"I set a new record on 60 caps by not scoring - and I've smashed that now! I do think that will take a while to get beaten. To play that many games and not score is stupid really.
"I would snap your hand off to score a goal - and never get that question again. But the good thing is that we have players who do score goals."
Third-placed Wales head to Dublin four points behind Group D leaders the Republic and two adrift of Serbia.
But Gunter denies that it is a game Wales must win to keep alive ambitions of reaching the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia.
"It's not must-win," Gunter said. "That's a saying in football I don't particularly like, and I certainly don't sign up to that one this Friday.
"If we were to draw the game are we stopping the group? Is there no point in playing the rest of the games?
"I'm not taking away from the fact it's a big game, it's going to be because we're halfway through the group.
"We're good at preparing for the game and not focusing on anything else but ourselves."
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