Hughes aims high in spite of absences

There was barely half an hour remaining of Azerbaijan's National Resurgence Day when Wales, a side on the cusp of their own footballing resurgence, arrived by the shores of the Caspian Sea last night.

The journey from the Western to the Eastern edge of Europe is one of the most significant Mark Hughes' depleted squad will make in their quest to qualify for the European Championships.

Wales may have overcome Italy, the Group Nine favourites, in Cardiff last month, but Azerbaijan is the kind of place where Welsh football has come unstuck in the past. Their World Cup qualifying campaign never recovered from an opening defeat by Belarus in Minsk.

Tomorrow they will be without half of the midfield that swept them to that unforgettable victory over Italy and, more importantly, the man who scored the decisive goal, Craig Bellamy, a striker Hughes has described as "priceless". The Newcastle striker's recurring knee problems have prevented him from making the trip here, although his manager, Sir Bobby Robson, at least had the good grace not to play him in the 2-1 defeat of Southampton on Saturday.

Robbie Savage's groin injury, coming after the Welsh Football Association had made strenuous efforts (which failed on a technicality) to keep the combative midfielder out of Birmingham's goalless draw with Fulham by invoking thefour-day rule by which world football's governing body, Fifa, tries to protect international players, would have infuriated Hughes, who already knew he would be missing Mark Pembridge and West Bromwich's Andy Johnson.

Given that Hughes and Birmingham's manager, Steve Bruce, spent many years together at Manchester United it was perhaps unsurprising that the Wales manager chose to play down the Savage incident, although many feel the Welsh FA has been treated in cavalier fashion by the Premiership clubs. "We have good cover," he said. "And we will go into this game with a good attitude. It could be worse, we could have lost more."

Wales may yet lose more. Danny Gabbidon and Mark Delaney, both of whom excelled in defence during the defeat of Italy, are doubtful starters while Jason Koumas has had to withdraw for personal reasons.

Despite those problems there was considerable optimism elsewhere in the Wales camp, with the Tottenham midfielder Simon Davies leading the rallying cries. "We are in a great position but we've got to keep it going," Davies said. "The ball is in our court and if we play well in Baku we will win. We are under pressure but it's a good pressure. I would rather go into games being expected to win them, rather than as underdogs."

Wales' first-choice goalkeeper this week will be Paul Jones, who admits he will soon have to start thinking about his Southampton future. He has not played a senior game since his last international, the 2-1 win against Italy over a month ago, kept out by the Finnish newcomer to the club, Antti Niemi.

Hughes believes the momentum from two successive victories will be enough to carry them through tomorrow night. "This game comes after one of the best performances in a number of years and we have got some decent results in some far-flung places before." True. But Wales have seldom travelled as far as they did last night.