Wales fought back from an early setback to defeat Norway 2-1 in their Nations League Group A4 clash in Cardiff on Thursday.
Norway took the lead in the 11th minute when Oscar Bobb finished off a move created by Martin Odegaard, giving Craig Bellamy’s side another difficult start after their previous defeats by Portugal and Denmark.
However, Wales responded before the break as Sorba Thomas produced a dangerous delivery into the box, with Daniel James sliding in to level the score in the 38th minute.
Norway’s task became more difficult shortly after the restart when Torbjorn Heggem was sent off for pulling down James as the Wales forward broke towards goal just 15 seconds into the second half.
Neco Williams then completed the comeback three minutes later, firing the resulting free-kick low into the bottom corner to put Wales 2-1 ahead.
Norway struggled to find an equaliser despite creating opportunities, with Erling Haaland heading over from close range in the 59th minute before forcing another save from Wales goalkeeper Danny Ward in the 81st minute.
Wales held on for their first victory in a Nations League A group, while Haaland endured a quiet outing as Norway finished the match with 10 men.
Speaking after the game, Williams said Wales had responded to their poor performances in their opening matches.
“We knew the first two games wasn’t us. The principles, the standards. We knew we had to put it right today.
“We analysed, we were looking at what went wrong in the first two games. We worked in training and we had to put that right. Obviously that worked.
“Going 1-0 down early, it is easy for heads to drop. How we felt in the last two games, it was easy to do that again. But we never did. We kept going and we deserved to win in the end.”
On his winning goal, Williams said, “I think it was more instinct.
Looking at the goalkeeper’s position and where the wall is. You just decide what’s best. Going across the goalkeeper was the best tonight.”
He added that defeating Norway was significant for Wales, saying, “It’s massive for us. Everyone saw how well they played at the World Cup and how good they are as a nation.
They’ve got world-class players.
We can do it against these top nations. We have to look forward now until the next game.”
