Craig Bellamy gave his players a glimpse of his feistier side during Wales’ 1-1 draw with Northern Ireland – one that had not been seen yet as Wales head coach.

According to a number of players after match, Bellamy gave his squad the proverbial ‘hairdryer’ treatment, slamming tables and raising his voice at halftime.

Wales trailed 1-0 at home to Northern Ireland, due to a defensive lapse which saw Jamie Donley get two bites at the cherry, eventually tapping into an empty net.

“It was the first half-time I had to go in and really go,” Bellamy said. “My hand’s still hurting from hitting the table.

“We cannot be that. I can accept a poor performance with the ball and mistakes are never a problem. But winning duels, winning second balls, coming back together, that to me means the most.

“Did I get them ready enough? Because I thought I did before and the messaging of ‘We can’t waste games’ and ‘Average teams have excuses’. I don’t believe we’re an average team, but our behaviour was. We wasted a half.”

Whatever specifics Bellamy said, his words had an almost immediate effect, with Sorba Thomas scoring within a minute of the restart.

While the Wales head coach’s outburst will not be a surprise to all those who followed his playing career from controversy on and off the field, Bellamy has cut a significantly more introspective figure in his coaching journey, especially at Wales.

It was a game that needed him to bring a level of intensity. A number of empty seats were visible at the Cardiff City Stadium and, following both sides’ crushing World Cup qualifying play-off defeats on last Thursday, the atmosphere was significantly muted.

Bellamy was quick to acknowledge the fans and their support of the team, even in spite of the first half performance.

“I thought the fans who were there were top,” he added. “And it was more of them than I expected because I know we don’t like disappointment.

“I’ve got to be honest, I was expecting boos at half-time. I was with it! But there weren’t boos. I even said to Crofty [assistant manager Andrew Crofts] after the game: ‘How good were our fans today?'”

For Wales, attention now turns to another Nations League campaign – this time in League A – after, of course, watching the World Cup this summer from home.

For now, though, that can wait.

“I’ll probably have about two weeks off now – I need to rest,” he said.

“I am done, emotionally done. I need this period to rest, spend time with my family and then look where I can improve. How can I get better? That’s my aim.”

Wales fans will hope that the disappointment of missing a second successive major tournament will spur Bellamy and his team on to perform well in the Nations League, and qualify automatically to what will be a home European Championships in 2028.

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