WALES midfielder Aaron Ramsey admits he feels as though he’s let his country down, despite producing one of his best performances in a red shirt at Hampden Park.
The Arsenal midfielder crashed home the penalty that gave Wales parity in the battle of Britain as Chris Coleman’s side roared back to record a badly needed victory to keep their slim hopes of World Cup 2014 qualification alive.
However, a sloppy back pass in injury time meant Ramsey was forced to haul down James McArthur and take a mandatory red card for a professional foul, ruling him out of tomorrow’s enticing clash with Croatia at the Liberty Stadium.
Ramsey was so distressed he apologised to manager Chris Coleman, but felt overall it was a night of triumph for Wales.
“It was very disappointing and it’s something I will learn from, definitely,” he said.
“I should have looked up at the clock and let the goalkeeper take the free kick but I think I had to do it in the end (to prevent a goal). It’s disappointing to do what I’ve done after a great performance for me personally and as well as a team.
“I spoke to the manager straight afterwards. I said to him, ‘sorry for letting the boys down because I’m missing the next game’. I just wanted to apologise.”
Ramsey was thrilled with the performance Wales produced with the spotlight on the hosts, and in particular their new manager, Gordon Strachan.
“Coming back to win the game was massive for us. I thought we played some very good stuff, kept the ball very well and when they went down to ten men we finished the job off,” he said.
“We were very disappointed to come in at half-time a goal down; set pieces are massive in the game today and we paid the price for that. We were delighted with the way we played but we were still a goal down. We carried on second half to try and break them down and eventually we did it.
“We came into this game believing we could win it and we did. Hopefully now we can get the momentum going again. We’ve done well in the last few games and we want that to carry on.”
Ramsey felt Wales went a long way to proving they can produce without Gareth Bale, withdrawn at half-time because of a virus and the subject of lots of stick from the Scotland faithful.
He said: “We have some very good players who are comfortable on the ball and we showed that second-half when Gareth had to go off.
“He can do something out of the ordinary and that’s what teams are wary of but we have a lot more to offer than what Gareth can do.”
