Star striker Gareth Bale opened the scoring for Wales in the 10th minute of their 2-1 victory over Slovakia.
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Hal Robson-Kanu’s scuffed shot in the 81st minute restored Wales’ lead after another substitute, Ondrej Duda, had equalized for Slovakia with his first touch in the 61st.
Chris Gunter: The Newport defender provided Wales with a real attacking threat on the right touchline throughout and linked up well with Aaron Ramsey, Gareth Bale and Joe Allen in midfield. Ramsey scrambled the ball towards Robson-Kanu who somehow, scrappy, but surely, touched the ball to steer it into the net.
Wingers Vladimir Weiss and Robert Mak, anonymous for the first hour, finally pressed higher up the pitch, and the Wales midfield, so dominant earlier, appeared laboured and exhausted.
In fact, Skrtel perhaps should have been sent off earlier in the game when he elbowed Jonny Williams in the penalty area. Out of contract having left Reading, the forward plays his best football for Wales, so while he’s far from prolific he could impress someone looking for a bargain this summer.
“I said before the game, whatever happens today if we got three points, one point or no points, it didn’t matter about the result because you’re not guaranteed anything”, he added.
Bale was not the matchwinner as Slovakia’s Duda cancelled out his strike to become the first man since Pele to score against Wales at a major tournament.
Chances fell for both sides in the closing stages, and after 81 minutes, Wales scored a late victor through Robson-Kanu, who was played in by Ramsey, as he scuffed a shot into the net to claim maximum points.
Wales remained the better team, but chances were few.
“Hal to get the victor is unbelievable”.
It nearly worked – Nemec was presented with a great opportunity in the 86th minute, but his header hit the post.
England, who tackle Russian Federation in Marseille on Saturday, are the favourites to win the group, but Bale believes it is time Roy Hodgson’s men were taken down a peg or two. “We’re concentrating on ourselves, because we know if we get our game right, it’s enough to get what we need to progress in the tournament”. The subs have to make an impact and he was unbelievable when he came on.
The third game of the tournament, Wales and Slovakia kicks off at 5pm – sandwiched between Albania vs Switzerland at 2pm and England vs Russian Federation in the evening. We’re not thinking about this game any more, we’re thinking about England and we’ve done the first part and there are two more to go.
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“He’s missed the first game, he’s devastated, but we were not in a position where we could take a chance with him”.
