Vokes spares Koumas' blushes with late winner against 10-man Azerbaijan

Wales 1 Azerbaijan 0

Sam Vokes (L) of Wales celebrates with Ashley Williams after scoring for Wales

The one thing Wales could not have afforded was to lose this match ahead of
Wednesday's much tougher trip to Russia.

But when Jason Koumas saw a penalty, and his follow-up volley, saved in the
second half, it looked like Wales were going to be denied a victory their industry and confidence merited.

Wales opened their bid to qualify for South Africa 2010 fielding a side which
included five players still eligible for the under-21s, with Wolves youngster
David Edwards given the chance to stake a claim for a central midfield role.

The five players in question now have over 50 senior caps between them, and
this was the acid test of Toshack's largely enforced youth revolution.

Jason Koumas of Wales shows his frustration after missing a penalty

Toshack's reign has been one of constant change, and Edwards' inclusion in an attacking midfield role for his sixth cap was at the expense of veteran Carl Robinson, a fixture in the team for four years.

Azerbaijan's new boss, the German legend and former Scotland manager Berti Vogts, was in charge for his first competitive match.

Wales started with pace, enthusiasm and plenty of neat passing.

A cross delivered by Koumas from the right was plucked from the head of Edwards
by goalkeeper Kamran Agayev, then Joe Ledley drove wide from 18 yards.

Tottenham's Gareth Bale surged past three men on a fine run into the box before
being blocked, he felt, unfairly.

Azerbaijan replied with a 25-yard effort from Branimir Subasic, saved well by
Wayne Hennessey before another effort from the same player flew over the bar.

Sasha Yunisoglu was booked for pulling back Earnshaw, with Wales continuing to
move forward as teenage Spurs full-backs Bale and Chris Gunter surged down the
flanks at every opportunity.

But the visitors to Cardiff were a much better side than Wales had encountered
in their four previous meetings with Azerbaijan, who managed only one draw and
three defeats in those games.

Ramim was a constant threat but Wales went close after 28 minutes when Bale's
free-kick deceived Agayev with Earnshaw almost reaching the loose ball. Gunter
then had the rebound scooped from his toes a yard out.

Sam Vokes scores the winner forWales against Azerbaijan

Two minutes later Agayev made a stunning flying save to touch away a 30-yard
strike from Koumas. Edwards then eased himself into a shooting position on the
edge of the box and saw his left-footed effort curl just off target.

The promise was there from Wales but the cutting edge was missing.

Clearly Craig Bellamy would have been a quality asset, but he will not be
available until the October games with Liechtenstein and Germany.

Azerbaijan sent on Agil Nabiyev for Djavid Huseinov at the break, with Ramim
booked for using his elbow on Bale after 48 minutes, which other referees may
have considered a red-card offence.

The Macedonian official, Aleksandr Stavrev, then seemed to compound the error
by demonstrating exactly what he had punished.

Azerbaijan were increasingly content to sit deep and defend in depth, inviting
Wales to open them up. But this was one of those days when Koumas could not find
the telling passes.

Chris Gunter of Wales is brought down by Rashad Sadikhov of Azerbaijan for a penalty

Bale was booked for taking a free-kick too quickly, a split second before the
referee's whistle.

Frustrating was creeping in, mistakes being made without pressure as Wales
looked for inspiration.

Toshack took off Earnshaw after 61 minutes, sending on the more physical Ched
Evans.

Then Koumas was booked for stupidly kicking the ball high into the empty
seating after a free-kick was harshly awarded against him.

Worse was to follow after 66 minutes when Gunter was brought down in the box by
Rashad Sadikhov and Koumas stepped up for the penalty.

He saw his first effort blocked by Agayev, who then did well to catch the
follow-up.

Azerbaijan were reduced to 10 men a minute later when Ramim was booked for
pulling back Koumas.

The referee at first looked to not realise it was the forward's second booking,
but eventually the red card was produced.

Next into the book was Huseinov, before Wales sent on Vokes for Edwards,
another forward, as they searched for the breakthrough.

Wales pressed forward with growing desperation, and Vokes saw a fine header
from Bale's cross saved brilliantly by Agayev, who was booked for an obscure
offence only seen by referee Stavrev.

But from the resulting corner Wales finally got their goal.

Bale's corner curled into the box and Vokes and Ashley Williams both went for
it.

The ball broke in the six-yard box for Gunter to lunge in and Vokes to finally
crack the ball home from a couple of yards.

With two minutes to go, Robinson was brought on in place of Koumas.

Wales boss John Toshack revealed he was 'pleased and relieved' by the slender victory.

'I am satisfied with the result and the performance. Azerbaijan
have improved considerably over the past two years and they provided a very
serious test for us.

'We dominated the match and heads could easily have dropped after the penalty
was missed. They were bouncing and our lot were deflated.

'But we kept going, refused to let it bother us for long, and fully deserved
the winner. We were easily the better team."

He added: 'In such games you have to be patient, but after they went down to
10 men I felt we would be able to do it.

'But I was still pretty nervous right to the end because in such situations
you can always see opponents nicking something at the end when you have been on
top for a long time.

'Gareth Bale was outstanding, and made the difference for us at times. But I
was still pleased and relieved at the end."

Azerbaijan boss Berti Vogts said: "This is a big lesson for us. Most of my
players are not used to playing in such a big stadium or on such long grass.

'None of my players perform on anything but very hard pitches with little
grass. Only about four of them even had longer studs to use.

'But we have shown that Azerbaijan football has improved. We defended very
well."

And he praised Wales' teenage full-backs Bale and Chris Gunter. He said: "Both
of them were outstanding, Wales had a lot of very young boys out there who have
big futures ahead of them.

'The result is a bad one for us, but I am not a dreamer. I do not believe that
anyone other than Germany and Russia will qualify from this group.

'But we must believe that when Russia and Germany come to Baku, we will be
able to surprise them.'