STILL SPOOKED BY SERBIA

Coleman accepts blame for 2012 Belgrade horror show and admits it still gives him nightmares

CHRIS COLEMAN returns to Serbia admitting he is still haunted by the 6-1 thrashing his side suffered there five years ago.

The Welsh saw their hopes of reaching the 2014 World Cup hit by the embarrassing defeat in Novi Sad.

It was the nation’s heaviest loss since 1996 and sparked calls for boss Coleman to be sacked, despite only taking charge eight months earlier.

The manager survived and subsequently led his men to the last-four at Euro 2016 in their first major finals since 1958.

But Wales’ hopes of making the 2018 World Cup are in the balance ahead of the crunch game in Belgrade tomorrow.

Coleman was there earlier this year on a reconnaissance trip and admits it brought back bad memories from September 2012. He said: “It was only a recce but I had butterflies in my stomach as soon as I got off the plane.

“‘Here we go again, I remember this place’. I can’t say this is just another game in the group because it’s not for more than one reason.

“And one of the reasons is that I suffered there, we suffered there – and it was my fault. That will never leave me. But I can’t wait for it. I know it’s going to be tough, but I like meeting those challenges.”

Coleman revived Wales by taking the armband from Aaron Ramsey and

giving it to Ashley Williams and also switching to three at the back.

But they are third in Group D after four successive draws and star man Gareth Bale is suspended.

Defeat would leave Wales seven points off automatic qualification with only four games left – and if secondplaced Republic of Ireland beat Austria at home, even a play-off spot will look out of reach.

Coleman has demanded his men rise to the challenge at the Rajko Mitic Stadium, where the atmosphere will be fiery.

He said: “We’re desperate for a win but what we must do is perform. We have to stand up to them and not go away with our tails between our legs.

“I won’t accept that but I don’t expect it from these players. For sometime now they’ve stepped up to the mark.

“You go to these places and it’s almost like there’s a stage in the game where there’s a ‘power play’.

“All of a sudden, from wherever it comes, the crowd start getting rowdy, the opposition up the tempo for five or 10 minutes and they bombard you.

“You stand up to it or you duck it – there’s no third option. I get excited about challenges like this, I did as a player.

“When you’re playing international football, the tempo is not like it is in the Championship or the Premier League.

“It’s like it’s controlled and, before you know it, the opposition are on top of you and they’re pushing. You need to answer those questions – physically, mentally, tactically.

“This will come in Belgrade, I know it will before we kick a ball, and that’s what we’ll talk about with our players.

“You need to know that going into it because, in international football, you’re in someone else’s country.

“It’s your country against theirs. It’s what you stand up for and what they stand up for and bang , it comes together.

“Something’s got to give, and it’s whoever’s capable or not mentally of standing up to it.

“Sometimes people go into their shell and, when that happens, bad things happen. You end up not succeeding.

“Other people say, ‘No, this is 90 minutes, I’m going to enjoy this, it will make me better’. If you get through it, it makes you better, and that’s how we have to look at it.”