Davies strike overshadowed by Jones' error
Croatia 1 Wales 1
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Your support makes all the difference.The Tottenham youngster Simon Davies scored the goal of his life last night – but it was not enough earn Wales a morale-boosting friendly win here in Croatia.
It was not such a good night for the Welsh goalkeeper Paul Jones, who looked shaky all night and blundered 12 minutes from time to gift Croatia a face-saving equaliser.
Davies struck in the first half, holding off several Croatian challenges in a strong run before scoring his first senior international goal. From then on Wales' patched-up side fought magnificently against the world's 26th-ranked side, who competed in this summer's World Cup.
However, just when all the hard work of the captain Andy Melville and the battling of Mark Pembridge, Andy Johnson and Danny Gabiddon looked like earning another fine win for Mark Hughes' side, they threw it all away. Jones hacked a back pass straight at Mario Maric – and the ball bounced across goal for the grateful Mladen Petric to scoop home.
It was a bitter blow for Wales, but Hughes can still be delighted with his team. Drawn mostly from the Nationwide League, they showed Wales have new riches to back up the big names who were not here. Wales were under instant pressure, largely caused by their own risky tackles on the edge of the box, Darren Barnard and Mark Delaney being the culprits. With such a weakened side because of nine withdrawals through injury, it did not help the younger lads to be under pressure so early.
But Wales started to take the initiative against a Croatian side who have relinquished their old brigade and brought in a new coach in Otto Baric because of their World Cup failure.
With the ball fizzing around in neat passing moves from the Croatians, Wales needed to get hold of the ball, and Davies did that on 10 minutes with a wonderful run and opening goal. He picked the ball up on the halfway line, left three defenders trailing before cutting inside Filip Tapalovic and racing into the unguarded box to slip his first goal for his country under Stipe Pletikosa.
CROATIA: Pletikosa (Hajduk Split); Zivkovic (Bayer Leverkusen), Tapalovic (Bochum), Simunic (Hertha Berlin), R Kovac (Bayern Munich), N Kovac (Bayern Munich, Saric (Panathinaikos), Vugrinec (Lecce), Vlaovic (Panathinaikos), Rapaic (Fenerbahce), T Maric (Wolfsburg). Substitutes: Butina (Dinamo Zagreb), Tomas (Vicenza), Vranjes (Bayer Leverkusen), S Maric (Dinamo Zagreb), Bazina (GAK Graz), Leko (Dinamo Zagreb), M Maric (Kärnten), Petric (Grasshopper Zurich), Hrman (Varteks), Babic (Bayer Leverkusen).
WALES: Jones (Southampton); Delaney (Aston Villa), Gabbidon (Cardiff), Melville (Fulham), Barnard (Grimsby), Pembridge (Everton), Robinson (Portsmouth), Johnson (WBA), Davies (Tottenham), Hartson (Celtic), Earnshaw (Cardiff). Substitutes: Crossley (Middlesbrough), Taylor (Burnley), Evans (Bradford City), Weston (Cardiff), Trollope (Fulham), Llewellyn (Norwich), Ward (Nottingham Forest), Vaughan (Crewe).
Referee: L-M Fröhlich (Germany).
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