Wales fans reacted with utter joy on social media after watching their country beat Slovakia 2-1 in their first match at Euro 2016.
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Real Madrid star Gareth Bale helped Wales clinch a 2-1 win over a resilient Slovakia side in the first Group B fixture of Euro 2016 on Saturday.
Slovakia had enjoyed much of the early possession and nearly took the lead as soon as the third minute when Marek Hamsik’s effort was cleared off the line by an excellent sliding interception from defender Ben Davies.
After crossing for Aaron Ramsey to head over, the roles were reversed to decisive effect, the Arsenal man skipping past Skrtel and Robson-Kanu steering the ball home.
After a 58-year wait to qualify for a major tournament, it was just the outcome Wales had hoped for and their fans forming the majority of the 37,831 crowd celebrated rapturously as the players went into an equally delighted huddle in front of them.
Substitute Ondrej Duda levelled within a minute of coming off the bench but another substitute, Robson-Kanu, had the decisive say with a scuffed winning goal.
Bale added: “When the subs come on they have to make an impact and Hal was incredible when he came on”.
He added: “We got the three points, but more important, in the context of a tournament, was the performance”.
And the world’s most expensive player delivered with a viciously swerving strike that completely deceived a bewildered Kozacik, who took a decisive step the wrong way as Bale hit the ball.
It wasn’t pretty but he gave everything for the win for Wales.
“We’re not thinking about this game any more, it’s on to England”, he said. “That’s Football.” Albania boss Gianni De Biasi said the tension got to his players taking part in their first big tournament.
Marek Hamsik, Slovakia’s answer to Bale, brilliantly slalomed past Ashley Williams and James Chester to bear down on goal. We can stick to what we believe in.
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Gareth Bale had given Wales the lead in the 10th minute when he curled in a free kick. When we got that second goal we were confident we could hang on to it.
England and Wales play against one another in Lens on 16 June (14:00 BST).
A controversial moment came just after the half-hour mark when Martin Skrtel shoved Jonny Williams to the ground with an elbow while the Welshman tried to chase down a long ball in the box.
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Plenty of credit must go to manager Chris Coleman, who chose to leave Robson-Kanu out of the starting XI as he carried a knock into the game, but the boss brought him on at exactly the right time.
