WEAKENED WELSH SET FOR HISTORY
ROBERT PAGE admitted he had one eye on the World Cup play-off on Sunday as Wales slid to their first defeat in almost a year.
Skipper Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey, Ben Davies and Joe Allen were all rested as the Welsh lost their opening Nations League clash.
Jonny Williams fired the visitors ahead in the 52nd minute but subs Jakub Kaminski and Karol Swiderski turned the tie Poland’s way in the final quarter.
Dragons gaffer Page, now looking ahead to the big one with Ukraine, said: “I didn’t leave anybody out because of injury concerns, I left them out purely because of the game on Sunday.
“There was a group that trained and I already had the subs planned before the game.
“The plan was already in place. I didn’t need to risk Aaron, Gareth, Ben, Joe, there was no benefit in that whatsoever.
“They did a controlled session, what they need, to get them ready. I made sure they were in the changing room. They’re a massive influence on that group and I wanted them in there.
“Even at half-time I wanted them to be a part of it and they were the first ones through the door at the end.”
This was Wales’ first game in the top tier of the Nations League following promotion two years ago.
Belgium and Holland complete the group, and Page was pleased that his side had played Poland just four days before their date with destiny.
Page said: “It’s the way we wanted it. We wanted this fixture first. It gave us a chance to give Daniel James minutes, Kieffer Moore needed time too as well as Neco Williams.
“It was a productive exercise. We knew it was going to be a battle but I couldn’t be more proud of those players.
“That was a strong Polish team, that was their best XI available to them. If you’re going to lose a game of football, lose it that way. We took the lead and I thought we deserved a point.
“The second goal was scrappy – it’s taken two deflections, it falls to him four yards out, of course he’s going to score.
“There are little tweaks we can make to stop him getting into that position but I thought we played some good football.
“We will be meeting tomorrow to go through it and formulate a plan to make history.”
Poland boss Czeslaw Michniewicz said: “Three points won’t be enough in this group. The last match is Wales again and they’ll play with their best team.”