Wales 1-0 Ukraine: Rob Page's men end 64 years of pain as World Cup qualification sealed

Wales ended 64 years of pain by beating Ukraine 1-0 to book their place at the World Cup in Qatar.

Gareth Bale's free-kick was deflected in off Andriy Yarmolenko in the first-half to settle what was an enthralling play-off final contest at Cardiff City Stadium. Both sides had further chances to bulge the net, with Wayne Hennessey producing a string of sublime saves while Ben Davies typified what was a monumental defensive effort from the hosts.

And the Red Dragons held on to banish the demons of past failures in 1977, 1985, 1993 and 2017 while extending their unbeaten record at Cardiff City Stadium to 17 matches. Page made a huge call with his line-up, bringing in Kieffer Moore in place of Harry Wilson in what was the only change from the 2-1 semi-final win over Austria in March. Despite his recent foot injury, the towering forward's worth has been only too clear to the current coaching staff, with Moore coming into the match in buoyant mood having averaged a goal every 20.75 minutes in his four substitute appearances for Bournemouth.

As for the occasion, the respect was there in abundance for Ukraine, a country that has somehow overcome immense adversity to even be able to field a side in Cardiff. But this was business. And for Wales, there were no dreaded 'Diweddariad Carfan' posts. No convoluted permutations. This was a straight shootout. Dafydd Iwan produced another stirring rendition of Yma o Hyd to fire up the Red Wall.

But it was the visitors who almost made a dream start as, after Joe Allen was booked inside two minutes, Oleksandr Zinchenko fired home from a quickly-taken free-kick, although, much to the relief of the home side, referee Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz disallowed the effort.

It served as a real warning