Cardiff, United Kingdom: Chris Coleman, the Wales manager, saluted his players following their well-earned 2016 European Championship qualifying point in a goalless draw with Bosnia and Herzegovina in Cardiff which put them top of Group B.
Despite Friday’s stalemate, there were chances aplenty for both sides with Wales goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey and Bosnian counterpart Asmir Begovic producing superb saves to deny Miralem Pjanic and Gareth Bale, respectively.
While Wales will be pleased with their fourth point from two matches which keeps them one point clear of rivals Belgium, the home side could rue missed second-half chances which fell to Ashley Williams and Hal Robson-Kanu.
Following Wales’ opening 2-1 victory in Andorra last month, Coleman was extremely satisfied with the performance and result after the goalless draw in the Welsh capital.
“The performance pleased me more than the point,” said Coleman.
“We had to ride our luck a little bit against a side like that so we had to stand up to the challenge. We did that and dug deep and the players were magnificent. I was so proud of them.
“In the last campaign we played good football but got beat easy. We gifted teams goals and the mindset has to be different,” explained Coleman, looking to guide Wales to their first major tournament finals since the 1958 World Cup.
“Lads were throwing their heads in front of shots and we need to have that mentality.
“This campaign, we may not play best football in terms of possession but we have to win games 1-0.
“If it will be 0-0 then we need to fight and not roll over. Last time we got bullied by Bosnia, but we never got bullied tonight.”
Wales, backed by a vibrant 30,741 attendance, pushed Bosnia, who took part at this year’s World Cup finals in Brazil, all the way and could have nicked the three points when Stoke goalkeeper Begovic made a superb save to keep out Bale’s injury-time shot.
Coleman added: “I thought Bale’s shot was in. I said, ‘goal’ as soon as it left his foot. We had another chance with Ash’s header.”
Wales now face Cyprus in Cardiff on Monday and Coleman is demanding the same level of performance.
“Three points on Monday would make things look very beautiful. We may be tired but we have enough to get us a win. We are capable of that.
“This could be a group where people take points of each other all the time. It’s nice to be sitting top at any time, but now we have to back it up again.”
Bosnia now return home with just one point from their opening two fixtures in the group following a shock 2-1 home loss to Cyprus last month.
Now Safet Susic’s side take on Belgium, who hammered Andorra 6-0 in Brussels.
The Bosnian coach said: “The game was as I expected. It was a difficult game.
“We came here to get three points and we took some risks. The score is not bad for either team. They are our direct opponents for second place.
“After our defeat to Cyprus that is the case. Our goal is to be in the first two teams.
“I think the best players on the pitch tonight were the two goalkeepers.”
