(Football news) A second half winner by Karol Swiderski was enough to relegate Wales from the UEFA Nations League after an underwhelming performance against Poland at the Cardiff City Stadium. The 25 year old capitalised on a quick flick by Robert Lewandowski to score past Wayne Hennessey in the 57th minute. Wales featured Gareth Bale but had little to no attacking threat despite desperately needing a win to keep their place in the competition. Their best opportunity came through Dan James who was denied twice in the first half while Bale also saw his header hit the bar. 

Wales set up with the intention of getting Poland on the counter attack with Johnson and James flanking Gareth Bale in attack. Poland, who just needed a point from the fixture, were intent on controlling the game and frustrated the hosts right from kick off. Wales had an opportunity through James who was released at the halfway line by Ben Cabango but couldn’t get past Poland goalkeeper Szczesny who denied him twice. After a bright end to the first half, Wales simply couldn’t keep the intensity for the second period as Poland scored 12 minutes from the break through Swiderski. 

Despite being a goal down, Wales simply didn’t show enough urgency to get a response, even though they were playing in front of the home crowd. Levi Colwill finally had an opportunity but shot straight at Szczesny while Johnson and Dylan Levitt failed to hit the target. Bale also had a fantastic opportunity to get the equaliser, when substitute Sorba Thomas crossed the ball in the 33 year old’s direction, but the former Real Madrid player hit the woodwork. It was a deserved loss for Wales who simply didn’t do enough to get a result out of this fixture and will now hope to fare better in League B.

Speaking after the match, Wales manager Rob Page said “We're disappointed that we lost the game and we got relegated, but it's not the end of the world and we're now fully focused on the World Cup. Let's take a reality check, let's take a look at the opposition we've been up against in the Netherlands, Belgium and Poland. Our players are not playing week-in, week-out. We've had a lot of injuries coming into this. It's not going to derail us, it's not going to dent our confidence whatsoever. We have to be ruthless with it as, against top teams, chances are few and far between. We've created a lot of chances tonight against a very good team but we haven't been ruthless enough." 

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