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Craig Bellamy certainly had his wish granted to test his Wales side against the best at Wembley, as the gulf with England seemed enormous.
Bellamy’s started out with a strong side against the English; a fixture he was relishing as a decent test for his aspiring young side. Aside from injury absentees, this was probably the strongest side available to him.
But it couldn’t have started worse for Bellamy’s men as Anthony Gordon went close in the opening seconds only for Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers to slot home after barely three minutes. Ollie Watkins added a scruffy second after only 11 minutes as the Welsh failed to establish any kind of hold on the game. Villa 2 Wales 0.
Bukayo Saka added a glorious third as Wales offered hardly any resistance at all. We hadn’t played 20 minutes yet.
Anthony Gordon seemed to enjoy the freedom of North London at times as the hosts continued to dominate.
Eventually, the Welsh began to show glimpses of settling and even enjoyed small periods of possession in the opposition half.
Ollie Watkins collided with a post on 40 minutes with the goal at his mercy. Jordan Pickford was a spectator in the England goal.
On 42 minutes Harry Wilson actually had a shot, which curled over, but was followed by Wales’ best spell of play, pinging the ball about in the English box. But the half ended with more spells of England pressure.
Rogers fired narrowly over early in the second half but the English play inevitably lacked some of the intensity of earlier.
Wales had their first meaningful effort at goal after 55 minutes, as Dai Brooks hit a shot at Pickford from close range.
The Welsh were looking jaded though after chasing shadows for over an hour. Bellamy spotted this, making four changes on 64 minutes. Chris Mepham, Ronan Kpakio, Josh Sheehan and Jordan James joined the show. Changes from England too.
Remarkably, the Welsh fans remained in high spirits, leading an energetic spell of dancing and singing.
Kpakio of Cardiff City burst forward to win a free kick, that was almost cheered like a goal. Chris Mepham brought a fine save from Pickford. Suddenly it was all Wales!
More changes. More noise from the visiting 7,000 Welsh. Mark Harris headed over but was offside.
The noise from the Welsh fans in the 78,126 crowd certainly seemed to lift their side.
On 83 minutes Wales gained, I think, their first corner. Came to nothing.
Despite the early threat of annihilation, Wales ended up with some credit from this game, taking the fight to their hosts right up to the death.
In the end though, it had been a bridge too far, and England had deservedly won a quite intriguing game.
England 3
Wales 0
DAVID COLLINS
WELSH FOOTBALL CORRESPONDENT
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