Coleman relief as Wales battle for a point
Chris Coleman still believes his Wales side can make it to the World Cup finals after picking up “a great point” in Belgrade.
The draw against Serbia leaves Wales four points off the top two teams with four games left to play. But the Wales manager remains confident his side can go all the way to Russia next year.
“I think this group will go down to the wire and there is still all to play for. They [Serbia] have got to go to the Reublic of Ireland and Austria,” said Coleman.
“It’s an exciting group and can we still bridge the gap – absolutely, 100 per cent we can. It was a great point.
“They huffed and puffed a bit, but it wasn’t that they were peppering Wayne Hennessey’s goal. It felt quite comfortable and it wasn’t as if we were standing there biting our nails.
“Everything I asked from the players they did – their work rate was unbelievable. Joe Ledley hadn’t played for a couple of months, but he gave us 90 minutes.
“We have been here before and not managed to seal the deal. In the last campaign we sealed the deal, but that’s just the way it is at the moment.”
To stay on course for Russia this was almost a must-win game, and certainly a no-lose match.
David Edwards came into the side to fill the suspended Gareth Bale’s boots and Jazz Richards took over from Neil Taylor as left wingback. Wales set out to frustrate the Serbians, and shackle the most dangerous attacking formation in the group with 12 goals in four games, and they succeeded in doing that throughout a highly accomplished first-half performance.
They looked positive from the start and Edwards and Ashley Williams caused concern in the home defence as they attacked a thirdminute corner from Ledley. That was a much better set-piece effort than the Serbs managed with five first-half corners and the only real threat on Hennesey’s goal came from two headers from Aleksandar Mitrovic.
The Serbs enjoyed 62 per cent possession in the first half, but only skipper Branislav Ivanovic showed any real creativity. They were toothless going forward and became the masters of their own downfall in defence.
A moment of madness from goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic in the 33rd minute, when he came out of his area and brought down Aaron Ramsey, not only earned him a yellow card, but gifted Wales a dangerous free-kick.
Ledley chipped the ball into the danger area, Sam Vokes rose to meet it and Crystal Palace’s Luka Milivojevic stupidly pulled at his shirt. Portuguese referee Jorge Sousa had no hesitation in pointing to the penalty spot.
With Bale not playing, up stepped Ramsey to complete Stojkovic’s misery and embarrassment by beating him with a Panenka dink to gave Wales the lead. To add even more significance to the Arsenal midfielder’s effort it came at the same stadium, and in the same goal, that Czech Antonin Panenka scored his audacious penalty in the European Championship final against West Germany in 1976.
After such an insipid first half, Serbia came out with all guns blazing after the break and finally got playmaker Dusan Tadic into the action. He began to cause difficulties down the left and thought he should have had a penalty when a cross hit the outstretched arm of Chris Gunter.
Wales were being forced to play on the break as the home side pushed forward and some great interplay between Ramsey and Gunter earned a corner that gave Vokes the chance to crown his 50th cap with a goal. Unfortunately for him, his header just went over the bar.
As the pressure mounted, so the 50,000 crowd began to find their voice and, when Wales switched off moments after making a change by introducing Emyr Huws for Edwards, Mitrovic struck.
The through ball from Nemanja Matic was flicked on by Aleksander Prijovic and Mitrovic hammered home with his left foot to score with his side’s first shot on target in the 73rd minute.
Wales refused to go into their shell and Ramsey forced Stojkovic to save at his near post, but the win they craved looked less and less likely.