It was chaotic, but we showed a lot of heart – Bale

GARETH Bale could not hide his delight after Wales battled their way to a gritty 1-0 win in a “chaotic” World Cup qualifier with Czech Republic.

The hosts weren’t at the races in the first half at Cardiff City Stadium, but won it thanks to Daniel James’ second-half header after both sides had been reduced to 10 men.

And Bale – who delivered the cross for James to head home what was his fourth international goal – admits his side showed all of the right qualities to earn themselves what could be a vital three points in their quest to reach the 2022 World Cup.

“It was a massive result, we didn’t get off to the best start against Belgium, so it was massively important to get the win tonight,” Bale told Sky Sports.

“We showed a lot of heart and desire to match a very physical team.

“It was very chaotic, especially second half, but we were ready and kept going until the end – and most important thing is to get that winner.

“We need to win games to qualify and we want to win every game, football doesn’t always go the way you expect it to.

“[Rob] Pagey has kept us focused despite what is going on off the field.

“The win is just what we needed. We were focused and we stuck to our game plan and got the win.”

Bale spurned a golden opportunity to put Wales ahead in the opening half after Jakub Jankto went close on numerous occasions for Czech Republic.

And a frantic game ended with both sides having 10 players on the pitch as Connor Roberts was redcarded after Patrik Schick was dismissed for the visitors.

But James was on hand to head home eight minutes from time as Wales got their first win in this year’s qualifying campaign.

Victory gave Wales five consecutive home competitive wins for the first time since March 1993 under Terry Yorath.

And James admitted the goal almost never came about after Bale was unable to find Cardiff striker Kieffer Moore in the box before crossing for the Manchester United winger.

“After the loss in the first game we had to pick our heads up and we knew it was going to be a tough game tonight,” he said.

“We fought right until the end of the game.

“For the goal I think Gaz was just looking for a cross, but didn’t initially because he couldn’t see Kieffer Moore in the box.

“But thankfully he put the ball in. Recently I could have had some headers and have been a bit disappointed, thankfully that went in.”

Wales are now third in the group, four points behind leaders Belgium – who hammered Belarus 8-0 on Tuesday – with a game in hand.