Wales loses close match to Poland

In a well played friendly Wales lost to Poland in Vila Real, Portugal on the strength of Legia Warsaw’s Roger Guerreiro goal with ten minutes remaining.

As a friendly both Wales’ John Toshack and Poland’s Leo Beenhakker used the match as an opportunity to experiment with the lineup. For Wales the opportunity was clear, to blend in younger players such as Chris Gunter (Tottenham), Gareth Bale (Tottenham), Jack Collison (West Ham) and Ched Evans (Manchester City) with veterans Sam Ricketts (Hull City) and Craig Bellamy (Manchester City).

After a strong start by the sturdy Polish side in-which they came close to opening the scoring, Wales slowly gained confidence and through the attacking spirit of skipper Craig Bellamy, seemingly re-invigorated by Mark Hughes of Manchester City, they started to threaten the Poland’s ‘keeper Łukasz Fabiański (Arsenal). By the half hour mark the young Welsh side was brimming with attacking spirit with Cardiff City’s Joe Ledley and another of Mark Hughes protege’s Ched Evans, showing strong intent but the match went to the break without a score.

At the break Wales called upon Sam Vokes (Wolverhampton), Boaz Myhill (Hull City), Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal), Carl Fletcher and David Cotterill entered for Craig Bellamy, Wayne Hennessey,Jack Collison, Joe Ledley and Ched Evans. Without surprise young Mr. Ramsey showed a cutting edge and vision to the attack from the get-go. However they couldn’t find a way past Polish ‘keeper extraodinaire Artur Boruc (Celtic) who had entered at the break. Finally with ten minutes remaining, São Paulo native and former Corinthians man chipped a perfect shot from the edged of the area that faded over Boaz Myhill and into the goal to give Poland the 1-0 victory.