WALES 2 CYPRUS 1

TEN-MAN Wales survived an almighty scare against Cyprus at the Cardiff City Stadium to keep their Euro 2016 qualification campaign on track.

The Dragons raced into a two-goal lead courtesy of sub David Cotterill and Hal Robson Kanu, but spent almost half the contest with their backs firmly against the wall after Andy King’s rash challenge saw him sent off on 48 minutes.

For a nation so accustomed to snatching agonizing defeat and heartache from the jaws of victory it felt like a ‘here we go again moment’ but a decent rearguard action coupled with the relative weakness of the opposition allowed Coleman’s charges to hold firm, as they maintained their advantage as Group B’s early pace-setters, with the scenes at the final whistle suggesting the Welsh players are starting to believe they can be the ones to end 50-years of hurt.

Manager Coleman made two personnel changes with a shift in formation to 4-3-3, Ben Davies and the injured Jonathan Williams dropping out for George Williams and Hal Robson Kanu.

This was always likely to provide a different kind of test than top seeds Bosnia, with their Begovic and Dzeko causing us all to Pjanic, but Coleman’s best laid plans were waylaid after just 90 seconds when a shoulder injury forced Simon Church off, David Cotterill his replacement.

It didn’t knock Wales out of their stride though, they started strongly with Gareth Bale crunched on just five minutes, but his dipping freekick was tipped away by Tasos Kissas as the world’s most expensive footballer led the line for his country, ramping up the excitement.

Rather surprisingly the visitors made no special provisions for Bale and he was allowed to come deep for the ball, again testing Kissas as the intensity was ramped up inside the Cardiff City Stadium.

And the Cypriots instantly wilted, substitute Cotterill crossing to the back post after a corner with no player getting a decisive touch as the ball looped into the net. “We are top of the league,” they cried.

Bale was in irrepressible form, giving and going and drastically heightening the tempo of the game and the excitement of the crowd each time the ball came near him.

His contribution for Wales’ second was something truly special, a magnificent drag back splitting the Cypriots wide open as Robson Kanu kept his composure to double the advantage, slipping the ball under Kissas.

If Cyprus were impressive in stunning Bosnia on match day one we saw few signs of that last night with Wales able to utterly control the game, the movement of Bale and supporting star George Williams leaving the visitors bamboozled.

Wales were in cruise control, but we’ve seen to our cost the troubles when the Dragons show complacency, the visitors replying with their first effort on goal, Vicent Laban curling home a freekick that goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey made a real mess of, completely missing his punch after Friday’s man of the match heroics.

However, Wales almost restored their two-goal advantage before the break, Kissas and then Giorgos Merkis the heroes as Kissas tipped Bale’s freekick onto the crossbar before Merkis headed away Ledley’s effort on the rebound, with Cotterill and Bale also both denied by vital blocks just seconds before the interval.

The second half was as much about Wales holding their nerve as displaying their quality, a task made infinitely harder when a challenge from behind by King saw him receive a straight red card with almost the entire second half to play.

Suddenly the party atmosphere at the Cardiff City Stadium turned as cold as the night sky, George Efrem heading wide from a corner with the goal gaping and Wales very much on the ropes.

The introduction of David Edwards added some steel to the Welsh side and they actually produced the next great chance, Bale beaten only by the acuteness of the angle as he shot across goal on 68 minutes after Chris Gunter’s smart pass.

Cyprus’ clearest chance to level came on 84 minutes, but Efrem again failed to find the target with his head after losing his marker and despite the tension in the stadium, Wales deserved to hold out for a priceless victory.

Wales: Hennessey, Gunter, Taylor, Chester, A Williams, Ledley, G Williams (D Edwards 58), King, Robson-Kanu (Taylor 84), Bale, Church (Cotterill 5)

Subs not used: Fon Williams, Letheren, Davies, Gabbidon, J Williams, Lawrence, Ricketts, G Edwards, John

Booked: Ledley, Cotterill, Bale, Edwards

Sent off: King

Cyprus: Kissas, Junior (Angelis 29, Papathanasiou 85), Merkis, Kyriakou, Christofi, Makridis, Laban, Antoniades, Efrem, Sotiriou, Nickolaou (Alexandrou 68)

Subs not used: Giorgallides, Loizou, Aresti, Sielis, Charalambides, Kolokoudias, Artymatas, Stylianou, Makris

Booked: Nickolaou, Angelis, Sotiriou, Kyriakou, Serkis

Referee: Manuel Grafe, Germany

Attendance: 21,273