Hartson strike secures place in history for Hughes' Wales

Wales 2 Bosnia-Herzegovina

As a Welsh-speaker it was somehow appropriate that John Hartson should have scored the goal which ensured his country would establish a record of nine internationals without defeat. Given that he has fallen badly out of favour at Celtic, the wonderfully calm manner in which he took the precious equaliser would be felt at Parkhead.

But only a fool would argue this proves Mark Hughes' team are superior to those who made it to the quarter-finals of the 1958 World Cup or Mike England's side of 1980-81. Last night Wales stuttered to cross the line in a game which will linger longer in the record books than the memory.

Until they tired, the Bosnians could argue they were the better, more coherent side, which had twice taken the lead. The absence of Ryan Giggs, whom Hughes rates very doubtful for Saturday's FA Cup tie at Old Trafford with a badly swollen calf, took an inevitable toll.

It took just four minutes to convince the Cardiff crowd that the record would not fall easily. Rhys Weston looked overawed by the occasion – his manager pointed out that these days the Welsh stage is a big one – and failed to cut out a pass from Vlado Grujic, seized upon by Galatasaray's Elvir Baljic, who picked his spot to perfection.

Although Wales were level within four minutes as Robert Earnshaw scored his second international goal with a wonderful turn and shot after a delicate lay-off from Hartson, they were never comfortable until the latter stages of the match.

"Closing someone down is a matter of seconds and, if the pace is not right, good teams can cause us problems," said Hughes. "When points are at stake I hope this would not be an issue for my team."

The two points dropped by Serbia and Montenegro, formerly Yugoslavia, in a Euro 2004 qualifier against Azerbaijan were more heartening to the Welsh support than the performance of their own side. That 2-2 draw in Podgorica left Wales four points clear at the top of Group Nine. Without Danny Gabbidon, the Welsh back four was short of pace and Darren Ward, finding himself alone against Mirsad Beslija, had to save superbly to prevent Bosnia regaining the lead.

That Bosnia scored again was unsurprising. Again, Baljic was involved and again Wales made an elementary defensive mistake, failing to cut out his cross to the far post, where Sergei Barbarez lurked fatally unmarked. His header was an act of the purest simplicity and the moment it struck the net, the stadium clock symbolically stopped.

It was still jammed on 64 minutes and 10 seconds when Hartson equalised. Seconds before, a lovely pass from Craig Bellamy had found him clear on goal only for his shot to be well saved. Another, similar move moments later, and again Hartson had sight of goal. This time he did not miss and the clock started again.

WALES (4-4-2): Ward (Nottingham Forest); Weston (Cardiff City), Melville (Fulham), Page (Sheffield United), Speed (Newcastle); Earnshaw (Cardiff City), Davies (Tottenham Hotspur), Pembridge (Everton), Savage (Birmingham City); Bellamy (Newcastle United), Hartson (Celtic). Substitutes: Crossley (Middlesbrough) for Ward, h-t; Jones (Leicester City) for Weston, 61; Koumas (West Bromwich Albion) for Earnshaw, 76; Taylor (Burnley) for Hartson, 82; Oster (Sunderland) for Savage, 88.

BOSNIA (4-5-1): Hasagic (Zeljeznicar Sarajevo); Berberovic (FK Sarajevo), Konjic (Coventry City), Hibic (Atletico Madrid); Music (Como), Beslija (Genk), Biscevic (Zeljeznicar Sarajevo), Barbarez (Hamburg), Grujic (Borac Banja Luka), Baljic (Galatasaray); Bolic (Rayo Vallecano). Substitutes: Mulina (Leotar Trebinje) for Grujic, 78; Hrgovic (Siroki Brijeg) for Baljic, 78; Miskovic (Partizan Belgrade) for Barbarez, 82; Halilovic (Osijek) for Bolic 90; Velagic (Velez Mostar) for Biscevic, 90.

Referee: D Malcolm (Northern Ireland).