Despite playing the entire second half with ten men, Wales held on to beat Cyprus and remain unbeaten at the top of Group B.

A quick start was the key for Chris Coleman's side, as they went 2-0 up in the opening 25 minutes. The opener arrived on 13 minutes as substititue David Cotterill - who came on for the injured Simon Church - whipped in a great inswinging cross from the left. It evaded eveyone and bounced into goalkeeper Tasos Kissas' top left corner.

Ten minutes later and it looked like Wales were out of sight, when Hal Robson-Kanu doubled their lead. James Chester played a fast ball down the middle of the pitch which Gareth Bale flicked on at the halfway line, allowing Robson-Kanu to race clear into the box and then slot past the keeper left footed.

The hosts would have definitley been out of sight had Bale's dipping 30 yard costless kick dropped a couple of inches lower; instead it rattled the bar for a while before being headed off the line by Chester.

The visitors slowly worked their way into the game though, and were sort of gifted a goal back ten minutes before the break. A carbon copy of the first goal in the game really, as Vincent Laban's floated costless kick from the right eluded everyone and just took a slight nick in off Wayne Hennessey who was trying to clear.

The second half got underway and the Welsh could not have got off to a worse start, as Andy King saw red just two minutes in. There was no real intent from the Leicster midfielder, however he slid in from behind and caught his opponet on the back of the ankle with his stood,  leaving the German referee with no choice but to produce the red.

Despite the man advantage though, Cyprus could not get a hold of the game in terms of creating chances. Instead, the best oppurtunity fell to world record buy Bale who battled his way down the right side of the box and hit the ball with the outside of his left foot from the byline. The ball went through the goalkeeper's legs, but also past the post due to the tightness of the angle.

The lowly-ranked visitors' only good chance came just seven minutes from time when after a good run down the right by Christofi, he then released full back Kyriakou on the overlap. He dinked one into the centre for Efrem, who headed over from 8 yards with the goal gaping. 

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About the author
Jamie Joslyn
20 year old sports journalism at Sunderland University, huge Sunderland fan