Despite over 7,000 miles of travel, limited training time, and an artificial pitch, Craig Bellamy ‘s Wales navigated the tricky Kazakh conditions to earn a hard-fought 0-1 victory in Astan yesterday afternoon.

Kieffer Moore’s 15th goal for Wales on his 50th cap sealed the three points for Wales as Bellamy’s side went top of Group J, albeit having played two game more than favourites Belgium.

For Bellamy and the some 1,100 Welsh fans that had travelled across Europe to Astana, the second half was a nervy affair, with the home side dominating the chances, forcing Karl Darlow into a number of saves, and hitting the crossbar twice – including with a freekick in the dying moments.

Wales’ defence held firm, thanks to a player of the match performance from debutant Dylan Lawlor. The Cardiff City centre-half has been excellent this season, but it was a bold call from Bellamy to throw him into a key away qualifier at the teenager stood tall.

For Wales, this now sets up a grandstand match against Belgium at the Cardiff City Stadium in October, with a win putting them one massive step closer to the 2026 World Cup.

With just a friendly against Canada on Tuesday left of this international break, Bellamy was pleased just to have navigated the trickiest logistical fixture at the most awkward time in the season.

“Preparation for this was crazy. I’m not going tell you before it,” Bellamy said with a knowing grin.

“Some players turn up on Sunday, transfer deadline day on Monday and a few of our boys were involved. Then we travelled Tuesday, trained Wednesday – one session. Four hours’ time difference, artificial pitch. It’s so new.

“Some players are playing, some players are not. It adds to the excitement, but I was a little bit more in the unknown than I would usually like to be.”

With the thrilling 4-3 defeat away in Belgium putting Wales on the back foot in their group, Bellamy’s usual emphasis on performance as well as result when out of the window in a frantic 90 minutes in the Kazakh Steppe.

With Belgium showing their quality in a 0-6 rout of Liechtenstein last night, and expected to get the job done in a home fixture against Kazakhstan on Sunday, Wales could find themselves three points behind their Flemish foes before that Cardiff clash.

If Bellamy and his team can channel their fighting spirit shown in Astana, the Red Wall could be treated to another famous qualifying night on October 13th.

Sportin Wales’s coverage of Wales’s World Cup qualifying campaign is proudly sponsored by S4C. You can watch all of Wales’s matches this year for free on S4C and S4C Clic.

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