And breathe. Into six of seven minutes of second-half stoppage time David Brooks dinked the ball in to seal a timely victory for Wales. Moments before the relief when Danny Ward claimed a free-kick was audible from the Wales contingent who had in effect taken over this modest three-sided stadium, a rubble car park behind one goal. It meant that when Rob Page, his squad and backroom staff embarked on a post-match victory lap, they had to tick off all four corners.
Page proclaimed he would take a scruffy one-nil win and while it was hardly smash and grab, they had to sweat against Latvia to a earn a crucial victory that revives their hopes of automatic qualification. Aaron Ramsey’s 100th senior career goal, from the penalty spot in the first half, opened the scoring but Wales also endured their share of hairy moments before Brooks applied a sumptuous finishing touch after latching on to Harry Wilson’s through ball.
A 15-second countdown to kick-off was displayed on the big screen and at that moment Page, who to his credit did not shirk questions around his future amid mounting scrutiny on the eve of this game, could be forgiven for wondering whether this would be the last time. Wales arrived in Riga with one win from their previous 13 matches, an unconvincing 1-0 win against these opponents in Cardiff in March. “I’ve got a group of players in there who enjoy playing football for me,” the Wales manager said. “The pressure came from the outside, understandably, but we never questioned it within the group. We did our best as staff to try to not let that penetrate the bubble and keep as calm as possible.”
Wales needed a fast start and they got one. Brennan Johnson shot over with barely a minute gone after haring on to a zipped Ethan Ampadu pass and then Chris Mepham made a thudding block which cannoned off the Latvia midfielder Janis Ikaunieks for a corner, from which Ampadu sent a header over. A few minutes later Ben Davies rose to register Wales’s first effort on target, his cushioned header forcing a save from Roberts Ozols, preferred to Nils Purins in the Latvia goal after their 5-0 thrashing in Croatia. Johnson then effortlessly wriggled clear of Kristers Tobers but shot over, perhaps guilty of trying too hard.
Connor Roberts forced Ozols into a plunging save with a smart header from a Neco Williams cross and Roberts more than played his part when Wales opened the scoring approaching the half-hour. Ramsey pinged a diagonal ball from left to right in search of Roberts and the Burnley full-back did superbly to prevent the pass going out of play and hoicked the ball towards Wilson, who was promptly barged over in the box by Kaspars Dubra. It was soft but clumsy in equal measure. Ramsey picked up the ball, nestled it under his left armpit and then, when the referee, Michal Ocenas, blew his whistle, coolly rolled the ball in, sending Ozols the wrong way. Ramsey wheeled away towards the nearest corner flag, where he was joined by every outfield teammate. A few plastic cups of beer quickly emptied as they were flung towards him in celebration.
Wales should have had another couple of goals on the scoreboard long before Brooks put the game to bed, though Latvia, ranked 134th in the world, stirred before the interval and Raimonds Krollis came close to diverting a corner in after Ward flapped at the initial cross. Wales had 27 shots and Page accepted his side’s failure to kill the game would probably have cost them against better opponents. Williams turned down the chance to shoot first time after reaching Johnson’s cross and Johnson then drilled wide after Ramsey freed Tottenham’s £47.5m deadline-day signing. “We’ve created enough chances to win two games of football,” the Wales manager said. “The next step is we have to be ruthless.”
Wales faded towards the end of the first half and failed to reassert their authority early in the second. Ramsey’s departure four minutes into the second half through injury hindered their attempt to regain control and by the time he was replaced by Brooks the dynamic of the game had shifted. The again-impressive Jordan James released Johnson but the Wales forward fired wide. Then Krollis provided another scare, dropping a shot from distance wide of a post.
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Williams, Wilson and Brooks passed up golden opportunities to strike and Latvia went close to notching an equaliser near the end of normal time. Ikaunieks stepped inside off the right flank, Williams slipped and presented the Latvia forward with a window of opportunity to strike at goal and his powerful left-foot shot, to the relief of Wales, rattled the side netting. But then Brooks finally allowed Wales fans to let loose after another away day to remember.
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