Wales suffered their first defeat under manager Craig Bellamy, as the Welshman’s side were edged 1–0 by the visiting Canadians.

Cymru winger Dan James urged his side to “take the positives,” with the teams separated by a spectacular free-kick shortly before the interval.

Bellamy handed debuts to Ronan Kpakio, Joel Colwill, and Kai Andrews — the former starting — in a much-changed side.

The match proved to be anything but a friendly encounter, with a total of eight yellow cards shown by referee Robert Jones.

The game began with key moments at either end of the pitch, as Mark Harris’ cross narrowly failed to connect with David Brooks in the opening minutes.

Shortly after, debutant Ronan Kpakio appeared to get off lightly after a challenge on Richie Laryea in the box. On further inspection, Canada may feel aggrieved not to have been awarded a penalty.

It was a nervy first outing in a Wales shirt for the Cardiff City teenager, who has been part of a backline that has conceded just one goal in the league so far this season. He will take plenty of learnings from this match against high-level opponents.

Canada hit the woodwork several times before finally breaking the deadlock — and what a goal it was.

Derek Cornelius’ 30-yard strike from a dead ball rifled past the wall and Adam Davies in the Wales goal. With just minutes to go before the break, Bellamy was forced to rewrite his half-time team talk.

Shortly after the restart, Mark Harris came agonisingly close to opening his international account — and what a way it would have been to score his first goal for his country.

Ben Davies turned a corner back across the face of goal, and from less than six yards out, Harris acrobatically got his boot to it. Over his head and on target, the Canadian goalkeeper was beaten — but a defender on the line denied Sparky a stunner.

The intensity and chances gradually fizzled out as the match progressed, with Wales pushing for a goal but struggling to find the killer pass in behind on multiple occasions.

The 15,000 fans in attendance at the Swansea.com Stadium perhaps didn’t get the performance — or indeed the result — they were hoping for, but winger Dan James believed there were encouraging signs.

Speaking to BBC Match of the Day Wales, James said:

“I think we’ve got to take the positives. It comes down to a free-kick — it’s a great free-kick.

“I thought we played well in spells. We know their quality; they’re a great team on and off the ball.

“It’s just that final bit that we want to keep improving.

“I think we showed character; we did create chances. We’ve just got to keep working on it.“It’s been a great camp — coming from Kazakhstan to get that 1–0 win. We’re obviously disappointed tonight, but we’ve got three or four weeks until the next camp, and we’ve just got to take everything from this one and improve next time.”

Wales now face their toughest international window since Bellamy took the reins, with a friendly against England followed by a crucial World Cup qualifier against Belgium four days after.

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