XI: How City the summer

MANAGER Jayne Ludlow is looking forward to the comfort of home support as Wales continue to bid for a place in the Women’s World Cup.

Wales stand two points behind leaders England with three matches left to play, the next two a home double-header against Bosnia & Herzegovina tomorrow and Russia next Tuesday.

“We’re really looking forward to the next challenge that’s coming our way,” Ludlow said ahead of the Bosnia clash at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea (7pm).

“We’ve done very well in the competition so far, we’ve played all our away games, and we’ve picked up points throughout. That’s what we were hoping for at the start of the competition, and we’ve managed to do that. But the reality is that we still have a lot of work to do.”

Ludlow maintains that her side can only afford to take it one game at a time.

However, having held England to a 0-0 draw at Southampton in April, the confidence and belief within the camp is at a premium. In addition, a solitary goal from Kayleigh Green and a late penalty save from Laura O’Sullivan ensured Wales would claim a 1-0 win over Bosnia in Zenica last November.

“Each team we come up against gives us a completely different challenge,” Ludlow told the FAW website.

“For us, as a coaching group, we’ve been working hard behind the scenes over the last few months and hopefully we will get our preparations spot on.

“Bosnia are a team that want to grow and want to have success in the future, so they’re in the process of building. They’re a small nation, similar to us, with a small group of players.

“But they’re competitive, they’re very proud as a nation, they come out and they work extremely hard, so we’ve got to match that. We have to make sure tactically we get our decisions right.”

With the final three qualifiers all at home, Ludlow hopes the support can add an extra dimension to the team as Wales look to qualify for the finals of a major tournament for the first time.

“The players want to be wellsupported when they step onto that pitch,” she explained.

“They want people to actually enjoy the moment they are having in their careers right now. It means so much more when there’s a buzz, an anticipation and an excitement from the people that come to support us.”

But Ludlow will not be allowing herself to get too caught up in the atmosphere.

“We have to block everything out and concentrate on what happens on the pitch and make the right decisions for the players as we go through the game,” she said. “But hopefully, the support will take our playing levels to a different level, because we still have room to improve in certain areas.”

Following the match against Bosnia, Wales head to Newport Stadium on Tuesday (7pm) to take on Russia in a match that is likely to have a huge bearing on the final group positions.

The seven group winners will automatically qualify for the finals in France, while the four runnersup with the best record against the teams first, third and fourth will head into the play-offs.