Ramsey pays perfect tribute in Panenka stadium as Wales grind out a draw

Wales fought out what could be a valiant World Cup draw as they held Group D leaders Serbia 1-1 in Belgrade last night.

Aaron Ramsey had given Wales a 35th-minute lead – his ‘Panenka’ penalty coming at the same stadium where Czechoslovakia’s Antonin Panenka had put his name in football folklore with a chipped spot-kick at the 1976 European Championship.

But Aleksandar Mitrovic, just as he had in Cardiff, proved Serbia’s saviour with a 73rdminute equaliser as the teams drew for the second time in seven months.

Wales were without their suspended talisman Gareth Bale but had a slender lead at half-time. The breakthrough came after Serbia goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic had inexplicably allowed the ball to run across his body and brought down Ramsey on the edge of his box in a wide position.

Ramsey’s free-kick was heading towards Sam Vokes when Portuguese referee Manuel De Sousa spotted a push on the big Burnley striker and pointed to the penalty spot. Ramsey coolly converted.

The visitors survived a huge handball appeal at the start of the second half when Chris Gunter got in the way of a Serbian cross. But De Sousa was unimpressed and he was similarly unmoved when Nemanja Matic fell in the penalty box after a meandering run, as Serbia ramped up the pressure.

Chris Coleman’s men were hoping the Serbian storm had blown over, but the hosts levelled with 17 minutes of the match remaining.

Substitute Aleksandar Prijovic broke behind the Wales defence and his pass allowed Mitrovic to skip past Ashley Williams and finish clinically just as he had done in Cardiff.