Bulgaria 0 : 1 Wales

A crowd of just 3,000 had witnessed Bulgaria’s Play-Off defeat to Hungary just five days before, so the Nations League encounter with Wales was never going to bring out the masses.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic having staved football fanatics of their weekly fix across the continent for a while, there seemed to be no indication that a 30% crowd would be allowed until just a couple of weeks prior to this encounter.

Had it been later, no doubt a few more Welsh would have made the trip over, and perhaps outnumbered the Bulgarians as they had done in 2011.

As it was, a smattering of ten or so hid their colours and sat on their hands for 90 minutes – or 85, at least..

The Welshmen headed into the game second in the group after Finland’s win earlier in the day over the Republic of Ireland. But without the likes of Gareth Bale and Joe Allen (who were injured), and Aaron Ramsey and Kieffer Moore (who left the camp after the Ireland game), it was difficult to see where the goals were going to come from.

Wales started brightest, however, keeping the ball well, and forcing a corner within the first five minutes. Joe Rodon peeled away at the far post and blasted it over.

The game opened up in the eleventh minute, when Liverpool’s young Neco Williams, who netted the winner against Bulgaria in Cardiff last month, broke down the right. A great cross into Tyler Roberts ended with a looping header into the goalkeeper’s arms, which gave Bulgaria the chance to attack.

A quick break resulted in a throw-in, before the next attack saw Wayne Hennessey forced into action for the first time, punching the ball clear from a cross.

Another attack proved dangerous from Bulgaria, which riled the couple of hundred home fans into a brief chant. This, in turn, buoyed the players who got stuck into Harry Wilson, before Williams returned the favour, threatening to turn the game into a sloppy encounter.

Wilson and Roberts were acting as a front two, interchanging neatly and pressing the Bulgarian defence, hoping to force a mistake. The young Liverpool player, looking for a loan club at the time, got his chance on the 18th minute, with a free-kick in perfect shooting range, but blasted over.

In the eerie quiet of the Sofia night, you could hear Davies – captain for the night – and Hennessey – the oldest player on the pitch – marshalling their team around. The youthful Ethan Ampadu played his part, pointing to his fellow midfielders where to go, as Wales and now Sheffield United fans will be customary to seeing.

After the blistering opening ten or 15, Wales seemed to lull into a possession game, and looked as though they may become as impotent as they were on the weekend against the Republic of Ireland.

Tyler Roberts tried a couple of flicks that didn’t come off, and some poor touches in the back almost let Bulgaria in. But they couldn’t take advantage of the inexperienced Wales defence.

Bulgaria’s best chance of the half came just before the whistle. Yomov cut inside from the left, nutmegging one, and looking like he could take on the rest before being brought down. The resulting cross was headed straight into Hennessey’s arms by winger Despodov.

Half-time, then, and Wales, although having looked the brightest, still no clearer to showing where a goal would come from.

Immediately from the restart, it was clear that Wales were playing a fluid front three, with Wilson splitting Daniel James and Roberts either side, but interchanging when possible.

A couple of bright moves down the right ended up with a corner and a shot over the bar, before tempers once again started flaring in the 50th minute. A yellow card for Wilson was quickly followed by a yellow card for James for a full-blooded challenge right in front of the Wales bench. Brazilian-born Cicinho reacted angrily and was also carded for his part in the fracas.

That seemed to spurn the naturalized Bulgarian into action, as just a minute later he created what was, arguably, Bulgaria’s best spell. Winning the ball in a deep position with a strong challenge, he turned defence into attack twice, resulting in dangerous-looking crosses that turned into nothing.

Cicinho’s Welsh counterpart, however, Neco Williams, also sprang into life and was key in all of Wales’ best moves, as the game started looking more like a tennis match than the calm, possession football we’re used to seeing from Wales.

Rabbi Matondo entered for James, and gave Wales that extra bit of life up top, but also leaving them exposed defensively. On 60 minutes, the young Schalke player cut inside from the right and fired just wide.

Bulgaria went straight up the other end with a flowing move – Nedyalkov, the full-back, linking up well with Yomov, Despodov, and Nedelev, whose shot from distance was well wide in the end.

Wales looked threatening going forward, but vulnerable at the back. But the young Rhys Norrington-Davies, making his debut, barely put a foot wrong, and was on hand to snuff out most of the Bulgarian attacks.

Wilson went down for a couple of minutes, and it seemed to break Bulgaria’s rhythm once and for all, before Wales manager, Ryan Giggs’ changes on 70 minutes swung the pendulum back in the visitors’ favour.

Jonny Williams, one of just four players in the squad to have been a part of Wales’ European Championship squad in 2016, came on for Wilson, with Manchester United’s Dylan Levitt replacing Matt Smith in midfield.

Levitt joined the action straight away, winning a free-quick that Wales took quickly. Roberts broke down the right and put in an almost inch-perfect cross for Matondo who fired over from close range. It looked as though it was going to be one of those nights for Wales.

It could have got worse from there for Giggs’ men, as a terrible backpass way wide of Hennessey forced the Wales keeper to sprint and pull a muscle in the process. Thankfully, Wales did have a couple of subs left. Enter Adam Davies for his first appearance between the sticks.

He was immediately called into action from a corner that reached to the far post, but the stretching Bulgarian attacker could only fire wide.

Wales continued playing with fire, allowing Nedelev far too much room on 81. He played a lovely one-two with Despodov, but the chance went begging.

It was getting desperate. Speculative long balls forward ended with even more speculative flicks from a clearly frustrated Roberts and, at times, confused Matondo. Neco Williams managed a shot from distance that the keeper spilled, that seemed to galvanise Wales once again.

The young Liverpool man was at the heart of the action a minute later, breaking at pace down the right to put in a perfect cross for Jonny Williams to run onto. The diminutive figure still had a lot of work to do, but he expertly connected with the ball to send it flying into the roof of the net.

Williams’ first international goal for Wales in his 25th appearance, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. The screams from the player himself and the bench indicated the significance of the goal, as the whole team ran over and piled on in celebration. Two Wales fans nearby broke into a chorus of the popular “Hymns and Arias” – betraying their identity for a second.

It wasn’t over yet, however, and Bulgaria broke at pace from the restart. It looked as though Neco Williams was caught out, only to get a last-ditch tackle in to concede a throw-in on the far side.

Wales’ second-choice keeper had no qualms about taking a yellow card for time-wasting, although the referee was surprisingly lenient. The visitors now playing for time.

Six minutes were added on, and Jonny Williams got his name in the book for a professional sort of foul in the middle of the park to break up a Bulgarian attack.

There was time for another golden chance, this time for Wales. Matondo showed lightning speed as he broke from the middle of the pitch. He had Williams in support for what was sure to be a clear goalscoring opportunity, but the youngster from Schalke waited a fraction too long before releasing the ball, and the goalscorer was offside.

Bulgaria had no time left to muster something up of their own, and the Welsh players celebrated on the pitch, as the Bulgarians slumped at the final whistle. Two more Wales fans made themselves known on the far side of the ground, and the team kindly made their way over to thank them.

It was Wales’ first goal since their last-minute winner over Bulgaria in Cardiff last month. They’ve only scored three this year, and have only been leading for a total of 15 minutes in their group.

But they won’t mind. They go into the final two fixtures – both at home – with a point advantage at the top of the group. A win will gain them promotion to League A. The question remains, will their fans be there to see them try?

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