Wales shock Croatia to keep Euro hopes alive thanks to Harry Wilson double

Wales needed to beat Croatia to keep their automatic qualification hopes alive and how they got a barnstorming performance to match. Harry Wilson was the matchwinner, scoring twice, but there were no end of moments to savour from this monumental victory over a team ranked sixth in the world.

One of those was the sight of Wales’s left-sided centre-back, Ben Davies, who wore the captain’s armband, on a one-man mission to close down the Croatia goalkeeper, Dominik Livakovic, midway through the second half before then going to ground to nick the ball from Luka Modric.

The Croatia substitute Mario Pasalic ensured a tense finish, heading in on 75 minutes, but Wales held on to register another one of those oh so special Cardiff nights.

Emotions had heightened in recent days owing to the chief executive of the Football Association of Wales, Noel Mooney, openly discussing Rob Page’s future before Wales trounced Gibraltar in Wrexham on Wednesday. Davies, the captain in the absence of the injured Aaron Ramsey, did not dress it up and described his comments as unhelpful. On the eve of this match Page responded to rumours about the Football Association of Wales lining up his successor and three of Page’s backroom staff – assistant manager Alan Knill, head of performance, Ian Mitchell, and the goalkeeper coach, Tony Roberts – took the unusual step of joining him at his prematch press conference in a show of support. Tears pooled in Page’s eyes when the question landed and he was visibly choked again before kick-off when the national anthem, Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau, reverberated around the stadium.

Croatia came into this game sore after a home defeat to Turkey on Thursday and Wales did anything but ease the pain with a front-foot first-half performance. David Brooks dazzled on the right and his sublime first touch to take down Ethan Ampadu’s diagonal crossfield ball was the catalyst for Wales’s first meaningful foray towards the Croatia goal. Brooks freed Wilson and Domagoj Vida made a crude challenge to stop the Fulham midfielder from advancing into the penalty area.

The covering Manchester City defender Josko Gvardiol prevented Vida from receiving anything more than a yellow card from the Italian referee, Davide Massa. Wilson’s subsequent left-foot free-kick was curling just wide but Livakovic was not sure and pushed the ball behind for a corner.

Wales hounded Croatia, Ampadu and Jordan James, the teenage Birmingham City midfielder, ubiquitous in midfield. Brooks exhibited some majestic touches. Zlatko Dalic slapped his thighs in the Croatia technical area as Petar Musa miscontrolled a floated Mateo Kovacic pass, gifting Wales a throw-in deep inside their own half. A few minutes later Neco Williams picked up Wilson’s smart backheel and darted in off the left and sent a right-foot shot towards goal, forcing Livakovic into a panicked save low to the goalkeeper’s left.

Wales deserved a reward for their first-half efforts but they had to wait two minutes into the second until they got one. Croatia did not deal with Danny Ward’s booming kick downfield and Wilson latched on to Brooks’s pass to hook the ball past Livakovic.

Wilson, this his 50th cap since making his debut at the age of 16 years and 207 days, slid on his knees in front of the Red Wall, which had been unusually quiet in patches. Perhaps it was the nervous energy?

It is fair to say most of that dissipated when Wilson doubled Wales’s lead on the hour. The substitute Daniel James sent a feathery right-foot cross in from the left and Wilson improvised, glancing the ball into the far corner off the back of his head. Gvardiol placed his hands on his head but the Wales players were off to celebrate with Wilson, who rose to the occasion in the absence of Ramsey and Brennan Johnson.

The same could be said for the entire Wales team, from Joe Rodon and Chris Mepham in defence to Kieffer Moore in attack. Page thumped the turf when Daniel James flashed a shot wide after cutting inside Marcelo Brozovic.

Dalic could only puff his cheeks as Lovro Majer’s inviting cross flew across the box unmet but Croatia struck when Pasalic headed in a Modric corner, inadvertently diverted to the back post by Moore.

That goal ensured a nerve-shredding finale – Wales supporters responded to the out-of-favour Leicester goalkeeper Danny Ward claiming a cross deep into five minutes of second-half stoppage time akin to a third goal – but the hosts held on for a win that will live long in the memory.