BEN DOES IT ALL OVA AGAIN
Teenage supersub to the rescue for second time in four days
BEN WOODBURN was Wales’ saviour for the second time in four days as he stepped off the bench to help fashion a crucial win.
Wales’ World Cup dream was facing a potentially fatal blow as they toiled at the group minnows.
Moldova, ranked 159th in the world, proved stubborn opponents until Woodburn teed up Hal Robson-Kanu in the 80th minute.
Moldova’s keeper Ilie Cebanu looked jittery but the visitors failed to test him enough despite dominating.
It took the introduction of Liverpool whiz-kid Woodburn off the bench to open up the game. The attacking midfielder saw off Austria in Cardiff at the weekend with a superb goal on his debut. This time he produced more magic to surge into the box and pick out Robson-Kanu to notch in front of the ecstatic away fans before Aaron Ramsay clinched it late on.
It was a huge relief for the visitors, who made three changes for the trip to the 10,500-capacity Stadionul Zimbru in Chisinau.
Joe Allen returned from suspension for Dave Edwards, Robson-Kanu replaced Sam Vokes up front and Jazz Richards dropped to bench as Andy King started in midfield.
Wales had their first sniff of goal in the seventh minute when recalled striker Robson-Kanu headed Ramsey’s corner wide. Moldova boss Igor Dobrovolski had his underdogs fired up and skipper Alexandru Epureanu was booked early for a foul on Gareth Bale.
Moldova tried their luck from distance through Artur Ionita in a rare attack.
Wales almost took the lead in the 19th minute when Ramsey found Bale whose shot was spilled by Cebanu. But Epureanu scrambled it clear from Robson-Kanu after Ramsey saw his follow-up saved too. Bale also hammered in a left-foot shot from outside the box which flew wide. But Wales struggled to create many clear-cut chances in a frustrating first half. It finished with Ramsey blazing wide from Allen’s defencesplitting pass. Wales started the second half with a better tempo in a bid to stamp their authority on the game. Bale had another low shot from outside the box spilled in the 48th minute by the keeper. Tom Lawrence, who caught the eye against Austria, also fired a right-foot shot over from distance. Then Ramsey headed Robson-Kanu’s cross wide in the 54th minute.
But in an increasingly tight and tense affair Alexandru Dedov tested Wayne Hennessey from outside the box. Coleman’s men still dominated though as RobsonKanu should have hit the target with a right-foot shot on the turn.
But Wales still needed a vital clearance from James Chester to deny the visitors a goal.
And it took the energy and quality of Woodburn to finally see off Moldova and climb to second in the group before Ramsey’s deflected stoppagetime clincher.