Wales suffered the agony of a penalty shootout defeat to Poland at the Cardiff City Stadium, as Dan James missed the only penalty in a 5-4 defeat.

With nothing to separate the two sides in regular time, the match went to penalties.

Nine perfect penalties were scored before Poland goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny saved James’ kick and send his side to Germany for EURO 2024.

The two captains, Robert Lewandowski and Ben Davies, stepped up first and tucked theirs away with ease.

Kieffer Moore’s penalty rattled the underside of the crossbar before hitting the roof of the net.

Two excellent Polish spot kicks made it 3-2 before Wilson’s strike levelled things up.

Nicola Zalewski placed his to perfection before Neco Williams gave Szczesny the eyes.

Perfect up until this point, the match was abruptly at sudden death.

Krzysztof Piatek scored and heaped the pressure on Dan James. The winger’s penalty was struck to the right of Szczesny who stretched to save and put Poland through to EURO 2024.

It is a devastating blow for Rob Page’s young side who played well in patches and should have won it long before the spot kicks.

Wales had a Ben Davies header ruled out when Kieffer Moore was adjudged to have assisted him from an offside position.

With mere seconds remaining in extra time, Chris Mepham was sent off for two bookings in a matter of moments.

The Bournemouth defender lunged in on Piatek and did not take kindly to Daniele Orsato cautioning him. The Italian referee then saw fit to show him a second yellow for his complaints and Wales went into penalties with 10 men.

Poland captain and talisman, Robert Lewandowski, had a quiet evening and has now not scored in four games against Wales despite tucking away his penalty with confidence.

A cagey start to the game sparked into life in the twelfth minute when Przemyslaw Frankowski’s teasing cross just evaded Karol Swidewski’s lunge.

From there, the game opened up to Wales’ benefit. Ethan Ampadu started to exert control over the tempo and often looked to set Williams and Brennan Johnson away down the left.

Wales’ best chances of the opening stages came down the right, however, as Harry Wilson’s bustling run and low cross was cleared from inside the six-yard box.

Immediately after, Connor Roberts’ long throw found Moore at the back post but he could only turn the ball over the bar.

Sensing their side were starting to build some pressure, the Red Wall went through their repertoire with gusto, urging Wales to keep pushing for an opener that almost came with the last touch of the half.

Captain Davies had the ball in the net from another Wilson corner but not before Moore’s flick-on header was ruled to be offside by the linesman.

Moore went close himself just after the break as his goal-bound header was clawed away from the top corner by Wojciech Szczesny.

As the tension built, both sides started to really bite into the challenges. Jordan James and Nicola Zalewski picked up yellows card with others having lucky escapes.

The game started to meander and Rob Page shuffled his pack, initially switching Wilson and Johnson on the wings and then bringing on Dan James and David Brooks for Johnson and Roberts in the hope of finding the opening goal.

Poland carried a threat throughout, with Zalewski and Bartosz Slisz making forays into Welsh territory on occasion.

Some excellent box-defending by Chris Mepham and Joe Rodon in particular kept Lewandowski at bay from set pieces.

As the game approached the final stages, space started to open up and cool heads began to dominate tired legs and none came cooler than Zielinski.

The Polish number ten started to drop deep in search of the ball and, in doing so, managed to free himself from Ampadu’s shackles and exert some influence.

He was able to find Lewandowski in a pocket of space but his captain could only drag his shot wide for the last chance of normal time.

Extra time was more open as both sides traded blows. First, Wilson’s freekick struck the wall, then Jakub Piotrowski curled wide from 25 yards.

Just before halftime, Kieffer Moore pounced on Jakub Kiwior’s error but hesitated at the wrong moment and saw his shot blocked.

Brooks had a good sight of goal saved by Szczesny after the break but had to go off before the final whistle. Rob Page confirmed that the midfielder had been ill and not trained since Thursday.

Even more interesting was the fact that Broadhead, brought on for Brooks with seven minutes to go, was not one of the five initial penalty takers.

As extra time wore on, Moore cut an increasingly lonely figure up front as Lewandowski and the newly introduced Piatek started to get some joy for the visitors.

Just as many around the ground turned their attention to the prospect of penalties, Mepham was sent off for two bookable offences.

His sending off mattered little in the end as the agony of a penalty defeat will only bring questions to the door of coach Robert Page and his team.