Allen confident Giggs’ side is on the right track despite Albania defeat

Joe Allen insists Wales are heading in the right direction under Ryan Giggs despite a sour end to their year.

Wales suffered a shock 1-0 friendly defeat by Albania – 42 places below them in the rankings – in Elbasan on Tuesday.

The defeat came on the back of missing promotion to the top tier of the Nations League and put a further dampener on a year that promised much with the emergence of several exciting youngsters.

Giggs has been praised for promoting youth and Wales have played exciting football in patches since his appointment in January.

But back-to-back defeats against Denmark and Albania have provided a note of caution before next month’s 2020 European Championship qualifying draw.

Stoke midfielder Allen, though, applauded Giggs’ impact on the squad, saying: “It’s been a great experience for everyone since he’s come in. A lot of new ideas have come into the camp and many players have had the chance to get game time and try and impress.

“We’ve spoken a lot about the youngsters that have come into the set-up, and that’s what has given us a lot of confidence about the future.

“We can’t wait for the [Euro] qualifiers, it’s a few months away and this was our last chance to be together before then. Our task now as players is to make sure we’re ready to fire when those games come around. We’re excited to see who we’ll be up against.”

Wales will be in the second pot of seeds for the draw in Dublin on 2 December.

They had hoped to finish the year on a high and star men Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey both featured in Elbasan as second-half substitutes.

But Bekim Balaj’s 59thminute penalty condemned Wales to a first-ever defeat by Albania, and tarnished what was a historic evening with Chris Gunter becoming the country’s most-capped player.

Gunter’s 93rd cap took him past former goalkeeper Neville Southall and the Reading fullback was captain for the night.