Sport

Wales let chance slip

Wales can boast the magnificent Millennium stadium and the equally magnificent Ryan Giggs

By MARTIN THORPE
Thu Mar 29 2001 - 01:00

Wales can boast the magnificent Millennium stadium and the equally magnificent Ryan Giggs. Unfortunately they lack a world-class team to match, and last night they had to endure the familiar sight of their World Cup qualifying chances disappearing into the night as Ukraine outclassed them for large parts of the game.

Mark Hughes's side needed three points to retain any realistic chance of challenging for second place, but not for the first time in this campaign they threw away a lead.

As soon as Giggs pronounced himself fit for this game he was immediately propelled into the position of potential savour. As if to lift some of the weight on him, Wales took the lead on 11 minutes with a goal conjured up by the Barnsley full-back Darren Barnard, who swung in a cross from the left that Gary Speed flicked on to Hartson who volleyed the ball past Olexander Shovovski.

That turned out to be Wales's only chance of the first half as they struggled to keep possession for any length of time. The test for the home side moved to the other end of the pitch, where a defence containing three players from the First Division pitted its wits against a Ukraine attacking force that blended movement, invention and versatility in a dangerous brew.

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Sure enough Ukraine equalised six minutes into the second half. As Robert Page and Matthew Jones both lunged in for the tackle, full back Andrii Nesmachnyi managed to squeeze the ball across the face of goal, where Andriy Shevchenko scored one of the easiest goals of his illustrious career.

WALES: P Jones, Delaney, Melville, Page, Barnard, M Jones (Davies 55), Carl Robinson, Speed, Giggs, Bellamy, Hartson (Saunders 70). Subs Not Used: Symons, Roberts, Legg, Jenkins, Crossley. Booked: Bellamy. Goals: Hartson 12.

UKRAINE: Shovkovski, Luzhny, Nesmachny, Holovko, Vaschuk, Tymoschuk, Shevchenko, Popov (Granovskyy 70), Yashkin, Vorobey, Rebrov (Kardash 46). Subs Not Used: Levytsky, Dimitrulin, Fedorov, Konovalov, Melashchenko. Booked: Nesmachny, Tymoschuk. Goals: Shevchenko 52.

Referee: E Romain (Belgium).