Wales 0-1 Bulgaria

If you ignore the result, it was a good match. Wales created lots of chances and worked hard as a team. It was another narrow defeat to add to the one against Montenegro (who are pretty good, as it turns out) and things were looking promising. A win in Switzerland did look essential but also possible.

Wayne Hennessey looked solid in goal and produced some good saves - the goal wasn’t his fault. Ashley Williams looked strong in a defensive midfield role he has now also played for Swansea City while Chris Gunter, up until his questionable dismissal, had provided some good attacking moves. Chris was the last man so technically it was right to send him off but he really seemed too far from the goal to be preventing a goalscoring opportunity. David Vaughan played with the confidence and skill of a player who has just (if not single-handedly) beaten Liverpool 2-0 at Anfield. Steve Morison worked tirelessly up front and was very unlucky not to score.

Joe Ledley didn’t seem to be at his usual standard but he wasn’t bad and who could blame him for being slightly distracted, with his wife about to give birth? Sam Ricketts and James Collins did well in central defence while Danny Collins seemed pretty comfortable at left back.

Gareth Bale was unsurprisingly the star although I do question the decision to play him so far forward – he’s often played at a left winger but my impression was he played particularly far forward, as well as having the run of the pitch. He is a great attacking outlet but he can do that from left back, where he could also have helped out defensively. Many have criticised Gareth’s defending but he’s improved a lot now he’s taken his hair clips out and he’s one of the best left backs in the League, better than anyone else who can play in that position for Wales. Maybe if Gareth had played at left back, he wouldn’t have created quite as many chances as he did but maybe if the defence was more secure, some of the other midfielders might have felt more comfortable about getting forward. Andy King, Simon Church and Hal Robson-Kanu were substitutes and they all played well. I thought that if the worst came to the worst and there were more injuries, Wales would do just as well with these three in the starting line-up. And in some ways I was right. But only in terms of performance, not result.

It wasn’t the result Brian Flynn would have hoped for but things looked promising all the same. However, Brian wouldn’t be able to play the same players next time. Chris Gunter and Sam Ricketts were suspended while the injury list was so long, it could almost have been mistaken for the teamsheet.