Third is best Wales can manage, admits Tosh

The veteran manager was in reflective mood as he faced up to the inevitable by suggesting that overhauling Group D's frontrunners is now too much for his international rookies.

Wales tonight seek to avenge a 5-1 drubbing in Cardiff last October against the Slovakians, with Saturday's awful display against Germany still painfully fresh in the mind.

Although Toshack was given a boost when Bellamy rejoined his squad yesterday, the head coach was pragmatic rather than optimistic about his team's chances of successfully playing catch-up.

'From the position we are in at the moment it is probably beyond us now,' he said. 'We still think we can finish third. We have three away games now and at this particular moment we have to get nine points.

'But, if you look at Wales sides of the past, more experienced teams with more Premier League experience haven't got the best record away from home against teams seeded higher than us.

'We came out of pot five when the draw was made. Let's face it, not many teams from that pot qualify. I don't think third is beyond us. But anything else probably is.'

Toshack was upbeat ahead of the Germany game.

That proved hopelessly illfounded. And he admitted that his downbeat manner, after learning of Bellamy's late withdrawal, probably didn't help.

'I didn't expect it,' he said. 'I have to look at myself. Maybe I transmitted a little bit too much concern to the players. Maybe I wasn't able to brush it aside as professionally as I should have done.

'I didn't have any doubts about what I wanted to do. Then this happened at the last minute. Craig caught us on the hop. Maybe I could have been a little more decisive.'

However, there has been 'a little extra spring in the step' of his captain after Bellamy was told by doctors that his nine-day old daughter Lexi would be released from the University Hospital in Cardiff following complications after her birth.

To his credit, he decided to lead Wales when it would have been far easier to pull out. But that, he admitted, was far from his mind.

Bellamy said: 'We've had a baby girl and we are very happy. It was difficult for me to play against Germany. I made the decision to pull out, not my wife.

'The baby is back home now, safe. I've just tried to catch up on my sleep, get my food intake right and tried to prepare as best as I can for this game. Everyone knows how passionate I am about my football but I'm sure everyone understands that your family comes first.

'Saying that, once she was safe, the only option for me was to come out here. There's always a point playing internationals. It's a chance for me to captain my country and get a cap.

'That's the way I feel about it. When I was 22, Newcastle were sending out letters every five minutes threatening to sue me if I was injured. You try taking that on board at that age. Players shouldn't get caught in the middle of all that.

'I just want to play. I couldn't on Saturday. I recorded the game and I went through it late on Saturday night and, er, that was it.

'I don't think it's fair for me to comment. I wasn't involved. The performance wasn't what we were looking for — let's put it like that.'