Wales hopes hang by a thread after Morrell sees red in Turkey defeat

After hanging in the game valiantly with 10 men for so long, for Wales how this quickly unravelled into another thoroughly demoralising evening.

Turkey had a goal disallowed either side of the Wales goalkeeper Danny Ward superbly denying Hakan Calhanoglu from the penalty spot midway through the second half but the hosts eventually got on the scoreboard legitimately via the substitute Umut Nayir on 72 minutes.

Then came a second, courtesy of another substitute, a wonderful bending effort from 25 yards by Arda Guler. Suddenly, that was that.

Other adjectives would probably spring to mind for Wales, who played more than 55 minutes with 10 men after Joe Morrell was given a straight red card. Ward looked like being the hero for Wales after keeping out Calhanoglu’s spot-kick, awarded after Aaron Ramsey was harshly penalised for handball, low down to his right but Turkey did not relent.

Nayir, who had a goal disallowed for handball three minutes earlier, towered above Chris Mepham and his header was too powerful for Ward, whose right hand could not prevent the ball nestling in the corner after it kissed a post. At the halfway stage of this qualifying campaign, Wales are fourth in Group D, behind Turkey, who return top with this victory, Croatia and Armenia. Wales’s hopes of reaching Euro 2024 look ominous at best.

Wales’s last trip to Turkey, in Istanbul 26 years ago, began with bricks being thrown at the team bus before the players emerged for the warmup protected by a blanket of riot shields overhead. The World Cup 1998 qualifier culminated in a topsy-turvy 6-4 defeat. Wales arrived in Samsun, an outpost on the Black Sea, having taken their fair share of pelters following an embarrassing defeat by Armenia in Cardiff on