This was the day when the path to the World Cup finals in Russia started to become more complicated for Wales. Chris Coleman and his players need no telling there is little margin for error in this qualification campaign, especially when their opponents are ranked 137th in the world. Georgia, in fairness, are much better than their record suggests, yet there was no escaping the sense of disappointment at the final whistle among the Wales supporters.
In a tight group that also contains Austria, Republic of Ireland and Serbia, the truth is that a home match against Georgia, who were drawn from pot six, is must-win territory.
Wales, however, dropped two precious points and it is a measure of how well Georgia played in the second half that the damage could have been worse.
Tornike Okriashvili’s equaliser was met by near-silence in the Welsh capital and hearts were in mouths again 15 minutes later when Levan Mchedlidze ran clean through on goal only to drag his shot wide. There was another reprieve for Wales 10 minutes from time as Valeri Kazaishvili’s beautifully flighted shot hit the crossbar.
None of that was in the script when Wales took the lead in the 10th minute through Gareth Bale. It was the perfect start to the afternoon for the home side as Bale registered his 25th international goal to move within three of Ian Rush, the country’s all-time leading scorer, and should have provided a platform for his side to take control of the game. Yet they never really looked like building on their advantage.
Without the injured Aaron Ramsey and Joe Allen, Wales ended up getting overrun in midfield at times and lacked the craft and guile to break Georgia down. The fact that Georgia had 17 shots on goal – four more than Wales – tells its own story and Coleman was honest enough to admit that on another occasion he could have been discussing a defeat.
“On our day, when we’re at our best, we’d go 1-0 up in a game like that and come away with the points,” the Wales manager said.
“But we looked indecisive defensively, and individually, for large parts of the second half. In the last 15 to 20 minutes, when we were trying to push, the game became open.
“We had some good opportunities offensively. But, to be honest, Georgia could have won it themselves when they counter-attacked us. We just kept backing off and backing off, and we haven’t done that for a long time. We looked fatigued, we looked disjointed.
“It’s not the end of the world, there’s a lot to play for, it’s only three games in. These next two games are great matches, Serbia and Republic of Ireland – they both expect to be there or thereabouts, like us.
“So this is a nice little test for us actually, we came back from the tournament [Euro 2016] with our tails up, rightly so. But we’ve just had a little slap around the back of the head to say: ‘Hold on a minute, it’s not all plain sailing.’”
Georgia certainly did not look like a team that came into this game having lost 20 of their previous 25 competitive away matches, winning only once – against Gibraltar – across the last decade. They played some nice football at times and perhaps it was a sign of things to come when the impressive Jano Ananidze hit the crossbar with a 20-yard free-kick in the first half.
Wales were already ahead at that time, courtesy of Bale’s predatory instincts. Towering above Solomon Kvirkvelia, he met Joe Ledley’s inswinging corner with an emphatic header from the edge of the six-yard box, leaving Giorgi Loria, the Georgia goalkeeper, with no chance. Coleman punched the air and Wales were up and running. Or so it seemed.
Coleman felt Wales became “too comfortable” and sensed his players thought “the game was going to take care of itself”. Georgia, who beat Spain in a friendly on the eve of Euro 2016, were never going to allow that to happen and delivered a wake-up call in the 57th minute. With no pressure on the ball, Kazaishvili stepped inside Chris Gunter and floated a cross towards the back post, where space had opened up in behind Neil Taylor for Okriashvili to exploit.
Taylor, trying to get back, appealed for offside but the flag stayed down – quite rightly – and Okriashvili headed past Hennessey and into the far corner.
At that stage the match came alive. Desperate for a winning goal Coleman threw caution to the wind with his substitutions, opening the game up at both ends. Bale’s free-kick skimmed the roof of the net, Gunter’s cross just eluded Sam Vokes and Hal Robson-Kanu scuffed a late shot into the arms of the Georgia keeper.
Yet the best opportunities fell to Georgia. Ananidze forced Hennessey into a scrambled save, Kazaishvili was denied by the crossbar and sandwiched in between those two chances Mchedlidze profligately shot wide.
Coleman refused to be downbeat. “If any team can bounce back it’s this team,” he said.
“I’ve got more confidence in this team than any team I’ve ever managed.”
