Wales earned a convincing 2-1 win over Slovakia and Gareth Bale scored their opening goal off a brilliant free-kick.
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One player who came in for a lot of praise from supporters was Ben Davies – whose brilliant goal-line clearance early in the match stopped an nearly certain goal from Marek Hamsik and played a massive part in Wales’ win.
Hal Robson-Kanu’s goal was #WAL’s first competitive goal not scored by Bale or Ramsey since October 2014.
His kick curled over the Slovak wall and dipped down out of Kozacik’s diving reach, for Wales’ first goal in a major tournament since Terry Medwin scored the victor in a 2-1 defeat of Hungary in the group stage of the 1958 World Cup.
Ondrej Duda equalized with his first touch for Slovakia in the 61st, a minute after he came on as a substitute.
Coleman said Bale understands exactly what’s required of him and “he delivers that and what comes of that is three million people Welsh people absolutely loving him to pieces. We got the three points and we gave our fans something to cheer”.
“On a personal note it’s great to get the goals but as I’ve said before it really doesn’t matter who gets the goals”, he said. The subs have to make an impact and he was incredible when he came on.
“Everyone will look at Gareth’s goal, but some of his best moments were at the end of the game at 2-1”, said Coleman. 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.
At the start, Wales were grateful to Ben Davies for his crucial early goalline clearance after Marek Hamsik’s superb solo run.
“We got so close to a victory that would have been a deserved victory”.
Chris Coleman’s side face England on Thursday and, with 16 of the 24 teams qualifying for the knockout stages, they can justifiably hope for an extended stay in France.
After Mak had wasted a 54th minute chance, Bale nearly doubled Wales’ advantage only for Kozacik to save his powerful header.
Coleman had suffered a blow ahead of the game as first-choice goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey woke up with a back spasm and was ruled out. “We just want the points, we want the wins, we want to go as far as we can in this tournament”. Ramsey got a well-deserved rest after 87 minutes, and he will surely relish Wale’s next test against England’s Tottenham-heavy midfield.
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The vibrant Welsh supporters were understandably furious when Jonny Williams was denied a penalty after Slovakia captain Martin Skrtel barged him over. Both sides came with the intent to play on the front foot, and the game benefitted from their proactiveness.
