The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Ramsey keeps cool to earn vital point Draws for Wales in Serbia and Republic of Ireland against Austria
Wales fought out what could be a valuable draw as they held Group D leaders Serbia 1-1 in Belgrade.
Aaron Ramsey had given Wales a 35th-minute lead, with his ‘Panenka’ penalty coming at the same stadium where Czechoslovakia’s Antonin Panenka went down in folklore at the 1976 European Championship.
It was coolness personified by Ramsey but Wales – without suspended talisman Gareth Bale – could not hang on for the victory. Aleksandar Mitrovic hit a 73rd-minute equaliser as the teams drew for the second time in seven months.
It was Wales’ fifth successive draw, but in the cold light of day manager Chris Coleman will consider this a job well done ahead of September qualifiers against Austria and Moldova.
They remain four points behind Group D leaders Serbia and the Republic of Ireland, who were earlier held 1-1 at home by Austria.
Martin O’Neill’s side turned in as poor an opening 45 minutes as they have done for some time.
An Austria side shorn of many of their big names by injury, illness and suspension took the game by the scruff of the neck, just as O’Neill had urged his own players to do in the run-up.
It was left to Jonathan Walters to cancel out Martin Hinteregger’s firsthalf strike with five minutes remaining.
Moments later Shane Duffy had what he thought was a winner ruled out for a foul, to the fury of O’Neill.
Spain stayed in control of Group G despite enduring a nervy evening in Macedonia.
David Silva and Diego Costa were on target but the visitors were made to sweat after Stefan Ristovski pulled one back.
Silva capped a vintage Spanish build-up with the opener and Costa tapped in Isco’s cross before half-time.
But with chances going begging Spain were made to pay when, out of nothing, Stefan Ristovski burst from the halfway line and lashed in his first international goal.
Nevertheless, a 2-1 victory ensured Spain remain top of the group on goal difference, although Italy made inroads on that with a 5-0 win over Liechtenstein.
Napoli forward Lorenzo Insigne opened the scoring with a fine strike, controlling Leonardo Spinazzola’s pass before crashing a volley into the top corner.
Insigne then teed up Andrea Belotti to tuck in the second seven minutes after the interval. Eder grabbed the third before substitutes Federico Bernarderschi and Manolo Gabbiadini completed the scoring.
Elsewhere in Group G two goals from Armando Sadiku and one from Ledian Memushaj gave Albania a 3-0 away win against Israel.
In Group D’s basement battle Georgia came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Moldova.
Radu Ginsari and Alexandru Dedov put the hosts 2-0 up at half-time but Georgia hit back through Giorgi Merebashvili and Valeri Kazaishvili to snatch a point.
Croatia slipped up at the top of Group I after a 1-0 defeat in Iceland.
Hordur Magnusson’s last-minute header, from Gylfi Sigurdsson’s cross, moved Iceland level on points with the leaders, although with an inferior goal difference.
Turkey had a mild scare against group minnows Kosovo after Amir Rrahmani cancelled out Volkan Sen’s early header, but further goals from Cengiz Under, Burak Yilmaz and Ozan Tufan earned a 4-1 victory.
Artem Besyedin secured a 2-1 win for Ukraine in Finland.
Turkey lie third, two points behind the leaders and ahead of Ukraine on goal difference.