Football / European Championship: Moldova make a mockery of woeful Wales: Embarrassment abroad for Mike Smith's impoverished team

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WALES have known many dark days in their famously barren history, but never anything as bleak as this. The most humbling result they could have imagined already leaves their qualifying prospects in the European Championship in an impoverished state. Around the corner for Wales in Group Seven lie Germany and Bulgaria.

True, there were all the ingredients for a sensation: a rousing local support, an unpredictable pitch and a home- friendly referee, not to mention the absence of most of Wales's big names. Even so, the visitors were without an excuse. They were well beaten and Valerii Pogorelov's winner 11 minutes from time, after evading three defenders, said everything of Moldova's superiority and Wales's glaring fragility.

Their manager, Mike Smith, denied it was an embarrassment to concede defeat to this new nation, just two years old and whose sporting representatives are ranked 135th in Fifa's estimation. 'The people who were out here will not see it that way,' he said. 'This was a hell of a game and if Moldova continue to play like this they will cause problems to any side, Germany and Bulgaria included.

'We are not out of it yet. We deserved more from this game but when you play in tournaments you cannot afford to concede goals like the one that did us.'

Smith's patched up team - no Rush, Hughes, Saunders or Giggs - had the best of starts, taking a sixth-minute lead with Gary Speed's belated first goal on his 27th international appearance. Mark Pembridge's corner found Iwan Roberts, who nodded the ball on into a crowded area, Chris Coleman seeing his attempt cleared from under the crossbar but only as far as the Leeds United midfield player, who made no mistake.

It was what every visiting team prays for in this situation: an immediate answer to the fervour of the home crowd, especially one saluting the first competitive international in their homeland. In the event Wales held the advantage for a mere three minutes. Defending too deep, they conceded a corner kick and even though it was partially cleared, the ball landed with Sergei Belous, who hit a screamer from 30 yards which ripped into the net past a helpless Neville Southall.

The record-breaking goalkeeper continued to live uneasily, those in front giving him too much work to do, either through their inability to spot forward runs or because they risked hasty back-passes on a pitch causing the ball to bobble alarmingly. Alexandr Kurtcan was put through but went wide of Southall and was crowded out. Growing in confidence, Moldova then went ahead after 28 minutes.

Again Southall was left cursing his luck, Sergei Seku's free-kick helped by a deflection in the wall, rendering the Everton man flat- footed. That was harsh on the visitors, as indeed was the free-kick given against Kit Symons when the tricky Kurtcan had probed for another defensive hole.

They were rocking now and with good reason. This scoreline would not go down well back home, even accounting for those who had not made the journey. Roberts and Blake were in the main well marked and unable to profit from any possession that Barry Horne and David Phillips could obtain. Just before the interval the burly Sheffield United player should have rewarded Mark Bowen's through-pass but, faced only by the keeper, he blazed his effort high.

Speed was pushed wide to give more penetration on the flanks. From his 70th-minute cross Bowen returned the ball at the far post, Koselev failed to gather and Blake buried the chance to uncontained relief. This time it was allowed to stand; four minutes earlier his 'scoring' header had been ruled out for pushing.

MOLDOVA (4-4-2): Koselev; Secu, Belous, Pogorelov (all Tiligul Tiraspol), Rebeja (Zimbru Chisinau); Stroenko, Opera (both Tiligul Tiraspol), Kurtcan, Miterev; Nani, Spiridon (all Zimbru Chisinau). Substitute: Kosse (Tiligul Tiraspol) for Opera, h-t.

WALES (4-4-2): Southall (Everton); Symons (Portsmouth), Williams (Reading), Coleman (Crystal Palace), M Bowen (Norwich); Phillips (Notts Forest), Horne (Everton), Speed (Leeds), Pembridge (Derby); I Roberts (Leicester), Blake (Sheffield United). Substitute: Melville (Sunderland) for Blake, 87.

Referee: I Val (Hungary).

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