JOHN Toshack was a happy man last night, thanks to a Craig Bellamy double that sank Hungary in a pleasing 2-0 victory at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

It is less than four weeks until his side face Austria in a World Cup qualifier and while the victory against a Hungarian side who can only aspire to mediocrity, was hardly a sign of a glorious future, it was as good a start the new Wales boss could have hoped for in his second stint at the helm.

With big guns like Ryan Giggs, John Hartson and Robbie Savage on the lengthy absentee list, Toshack will be satisfied by the contributions of players such as Carl Fletcher and Sam Rickets and also the form of Bellamy, who took his goals with aplomb, albeit with a little help from Magyars' goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly.

The eccentric Crystal Palace stopper was badly at fault for both goals and gave the impression that he would struggle to keep hens out of a midden.

Only 16,000 or so supporters turned up for Tosh's opening night, leaving large expanses of the Millennium Stadium exposed and vacuous, so it was unsurprising that the opening 45 minutes were hardly enthralling in such a flat atmosphere.

The new boss had to make do with what he had player-wise and he deployed a 3-5-2 formation that seemed to suit those on show.

Fletcher was inches away from connecting with a Rickets cross and Bellamy set up Robert Earnshaw, who just lacked the height to meet his cross as the side tried to get things going.

Then Carl Robinson's effort crashed off a post and Hungary's Zoltan Gera clipped the Wales' bar but that aside it was pretty dull, even for a friendly match.

But after the break Wales picked up the tempo and in the 64th minute Bellamy opened the scoring after his free kick from 30 yards found its way under Kiraly's body and into the back of the net.

It was a stinging drive from a player not exactly famous for his set pieces but in truth Kiraly went down like a pensioner picking up a penny and he should never had let it get through him.

The visitors responded by forcing a series of corners but keeper Danny Coyne was never really troubled at any stage with Danny Gabbidon hardly breaking sweat alongside Robert Page and new boy David Partridge.

Instead it was Wales who doubled their advantage with ten minutes to go, Kiraly again doing his bit to help out.

Bellamy was again the man after he exchanged a delightful one-two with the impressive Simon Davis and the little striker with the large temper sprinted through on goal, firing a low shot that squirmed through the legs of Kirably and just over the line.

Moments later Bellamy almost grabbed his hat-trick when the blunder 'keeper scuffed his clearance straight to the striker whose shot was cleared to safety by a retreating defender.

Toshack handed debuts to Danny Collins and Stephen Roberts late on as the game wound down but he knows that last night was just the first tentative step on what could be a very long journey.

Wales: Coyne, Edwards (Weston 50), Ricketts, Gabbidon, Page, Partridge (D Collins 65), Fletcher, Bellamy, Earnshaw (G Roberts 75), Davies, Robinson (S Roberts 89). Sub not used: P Jones.

Hungary: Kiraly, Bodnar, Gyepes, Juhasz, Dragoner, Lipcsei (Kovacs 68), Korsos (Rosa 65), Hajnal (Leandro 58), Torghelle Vincze 80), Gera, Huszti (Kenesei 80). Subs not used: Szucs, Stark, Vanczak. Booked: Dragoner (foul 56). Referee: Charlie Richmond (Scotland). Attendance: 16,672.