San Marino 1 - 2 Wales

San Marino 1-2 Wales: Ledley goal decisive

Updated: October 17, 2007, 8:00 AM UK

Wales boss John Toshack would have wanted a far more convincing victory than this in the wake of the problems that arose following the shocking display in Cyprus at the weekend.

Wales dominated the first period with goals from Robert Earnshaw and Joe Ledley, but they allowed themselves to be dragged into a battle after the break and conceded a free-kick goal struck home by Andy Selva.

It was only San Marino's second goal in 11 Euro 2008 group D qualifiers and set the tone for a fractious final few minutes.

Nicola Albani was sent off for two bookable offences - with eight cards shown in all during this match, played out in the hills above Rimini.

• Toshack: Lots of work to be done

Toshack had criticised the players' for being spoilt and pampered ahead of this match, with pressure on his own position.

But a victory was welcomed. San Marino almost beat the Republic of Ireland here and make life hard for their opponents, with Wales at least showing spirit and fight to claim the victory.

Toshack made four changes from the side beaten 3-1 in Cyprus on Saturday for this Euro 2008 qualifier in the Stadio di Serravalle.

Defender James Collins has returned to West Ham with a calf problem, while goalkeeper Danny Coyne, full-back Sam Ricketts and forward Freddy Eastwood were all on the bench.

In came Lewis Price in goal, Neal Eardley made his full debut at right-back while David Vaughan and Robert Earnshaw were both recalled.

For San Marino, striker Selva returned after suspension, while Manuel Marani was banned.

Wales clearly showed more commitment than they did in the shocking defeat in Nicosia - but they could hardly have been worse.

Eardley set the standard with two crunching tackles in the opening minutes to roars of approval from the 400 travelling fans - a remarkable turn-out considering the weekend result.

As expected San Marino sat deep, with 10 men less than 30 yards from their goal and the onus was on Wales to create.

In the 12th minute Carl Robinson's quick free-kick reached Simon Davies and a neat pass to Craig Bellamy in the box resulted in a stinging shot pushed away by Aldo Simoncini.

A minute later Wales were ahead. Gareth Bale found Bellamy and a quick pass to Earnshaw's feet ended with a shot on the turn which spun into the net off Simoncini's legs.

It was Earnshaw's first start for Wales in a year - and his first goal for his country since that Cardiff win over Cyprus.

San Marino's main defence was to constantly foul, with Maltese referee Anthony Zammit showing amazing leniency.

Earnshaw had the ball in the net after a sweeping move but was judged offside, while Joe Ledley saw an effort tipped over the angle by Simoncini.

Earnshaw had another effort disallowed for a foul on Simoncini as the pair contested a deflected Eardley cross on the line.

But Wales got their second goal in the 36th minute when Davies and Bellamy linked well to cut into the box and present Ledley with a far post tap-in - his first goal for his country.

Carlo Valentini, who had got away with two scything tackles on Gareth Bale, was eventually booked for a nasty lunge from behind on Ledley.

Teenager Bale then got himself booked, his first foul of the night, for a foul on Selva three minutes before the break.

San Marino managed their first shot on 49 minutes with a 25-yard free-kick from Selva which was saved by Price as it dipped towards the foot of a post.

Price was in action again soon after with another low save, this time when Valentini found space on the right.

Ricketts came on for Vaughan, while Damiani Vannucci was booked for a disgraceful lunge at Earnshaw as the game entered the closing stages.

Nicola Albani, already booked for a foul on Bellamy, was shown the red card on 84 minutes for deliberate handball, then Ricketts was booked for a foul - which rules him out of the next match against the Republic of Ireland.

Toshack was then pushed out of the way in injury-time by Riccardo Muccioli, as the San Marino player tried to pick the ball up in front of the Wales dugout.

Toshack: Lots of work to be done

Toshack had accused his players of being spoilt and pampered ahead of this match following the debacle of Saturday's defeat in Cyprus.

But the Wales boss said: 'I still feel we have a lot of work and talking to do if we are going to change some players' attitude.

'I still want to push younger players in. Some of these lads have had a rollicking, but these days you don't seem to be able to do that to young players. They think that they know it all.'

Toshack looked drained after a week of soul searching and recriminations in which he doubted his own position.

He said: 'I hope the next 10 days we are together will be better than this one was. Okay, so this was a win, but that's all.

'We set about the first half in the right way, scored two and could have had more. We were good value for that lead at the break.

'But in the second period we had to make a change because David Vaughan was struggling with a groin injury and we didn't really get started after that.

'We were not as good as we were in the first half and we gave away a needless free-kick for them to score. From then on, we were biting our nails and calling for the whistle.

'That was a pity because it should not have been that close. But it was difficult against a defence that did not come out.

'But to concede from a free-kick like that, with us not marking up properly and generally being sloppy disappointed me.

'Games against teams like this frighten the life out of me. San Marino almost beat the Republic of Ireland here and you know things like that can happen.'