Giggs proud as kids put Wales on path to promotion

RYAN GIGGS hailed a ‘brilliant’ second-half performance by Wales in the win over Ireland that leaves promotion to the top tier of the Nations League in their hands. Harry Wilson struck a wonderful free-kick to decide a tight contest and captain Ashley Williams led a defensive rearguard late on as Ireland rallied for an equaliser. It was a hugely encouraging victory for Wales, who were without Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey in a competitive game for the first time since 2008. Wilson’s goal in the 58th minute was a close copy of his dead-ball strike against Manchester United for Derby and Giggs (below) said he was more pleased at this latest effort. ‘I fined Harry for the goal at Old Trafford a few weeks ago, I won’t be tonight!’ Giggs joked. ‘He does it all the time in training, it’s practice, practice, practice.’ Giggs added: ‘I’m so proud, they dug in right to the end. It was a really brilliant second-half performance. The determination pleased me, to not give a goal away. Ashley Williams was outstanding for 90 minutes. He defended, did the hard stuff which gave us the platform to go on.’ Wales are now two points ahead of Denmark and would win the group by beating them in next month’s match in Cardiff. ‘We set out to win the group, it’s a tough group and now it is in our hands,’ Giggs said. In the absence of Bale, who is injured, and Ramsey, who announced the arrival of baby twins just before kick-off, Giggs handed first starts to 18-year-old midfielder Matthew Smith and forward Tyler Roberts, 19, and was rewarded with positive performances. Wilson said: ‘The manager is very confident in all of us, you can see that in his selections. Everyone dealt with it really well.’ Williams added: ‘We had a young team, to a man they were brilliant.’