Wales' big day in Bordeaux provides memories to last a lifetime

There were an estimated 24,000 inside the Stade de Bordeaux to cheer Chris Coleman’s men to victory over Slovakia, thousands more in the city without tickets and millions following the action back home.

Many will still have sore heads from partying all weekend but, all will have memories that will last a lifetime.

And, in stark contrast to the ugly scenes involving England and Russian ‘supporters’ in Marseille, those in Bordeaux represented their country superbly.

The same goes for the Welsh players who, to a man, did the nation proud.

Whatever the result, Saturday was always going to be a special day and it delivered in style.

From the red-shirted benign invasion of the impressive city centre before the game to the awesome rendition of the anthem and the exhilarating 90 minutes it all went perfectly for Wales.

Or as near to perfect as possible. We could have done without Wayne Hennessey’s back spasm and Ondrej Duda’s equaliser but Wales overcame both setbacks.

Hennessey’s misfortune handed Danny Ward a huge opportunity and, after a nervy start when he was grateful to Ben Davies for a miraculous goalline clearance, the young Liverpool keeper coped reasonably well.

Gareth Bale’s sublime free-kick on 10 minutes settled the nerves and Wales looked confident and in control for the remainder of the first half with Joe Allen superb in central midfield.

Slovakia had more possession but, that Davies block from Marek Hamsik aside, rarely threatened Ward’s goal in the opening period.

The match could easily have been settled before the break if Martin Skrtel had seen red and conceded a penalty for an elbow to the jaw of Jonny Williams in the box.

Williams, who started ahead of Hal Robson-Kanu and Sam Vokes, was a real livewire in a free role behind lone front man Bale.

But pushing the Real Madrid star that far forward meant he didn’t have the chance to run at the Slovakian defence as much as he’d have liked.

Slovakia kept going and a double substitution on the hour paid off almost immediately as Duda slotted the ball into the bottom corner of Ward’s net with almost his first touch.

Wales were shocked and it was only in the final 20 minutes, when Robson-Kanu replaced Jonny Williams, that they began to threaten again.

The Reading striker, who is a free agent this summer, became the focal point of the attack and allowed Bale to drop deeper and cause panic in the opposition defence by running at them with pace.

Bale clearly also has a killer pass in his locker and it was his ball to Aaron Ramsey that led to the winning goal on 81 minutes.

He picked out the Arsenal man, who was racing into the box with Robson-Kanu for company.

Ramsey, at full stretch as a tackle came in, just managed to nudge the ball sideways and the striker’s scuffed shot was good enough to beat Matus Kozacik and, ultimately, to beat Slovakia.

Whether it’s good enough to take Wales through to the knockout stages remains to be seen but they are certainly in the driving seat after the 1-1 draw between England and Russia.

It is of course the Three Lions up next for Coleman’s in Lens on Thursday.

Saturday’s win should help ease a little bit of the tension and pressure surrounding that game as far as Wales are concerned.

The last-gasp leveller for Russia leaves England needing to win in Lens and it could be ideally suited for Bale to hit Roy Hodgson’s men on the break.

A win for Wales would seal qualification for the second round and potentially put England on the verge of an early exit from the competition.

That would be a dream scenario for most Welsh fans and, as Saturday proved, sometimes dreams do come true.

Wales: Ward, Taylor, Davies, A. Williams, Chester, Gunter, Edwards (Ledley, 69), Allen, Ramsey (Richards, 88), J. Williams (Robson-Kanu, 71), Bale

Slovakia: Kozacik, Pekarik, Skrtel, Durica, Weiss (Stoch, 83), Hrosovsky (Duda, 60), Hamsik, Svento, Kucka, Mak, Duris (Nemec, 60)

Booked: Skrtel, Kucka, Hrosovsky, Mak, Weiss

Referee: Svein Oddvar Moen (Norway)