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Wales secured a hard-fought 1-0 victory against international minnows Liechtenstein to keep alive their chances of World Cup finals progress.

Jordan James notched his first international strike for Wales from close range after Liechtenstein’s assorted collection of full-time players, amateurs and part-timers had resisted for over an hour. The scorer celebrated in joy with his clear emotion shared by the 3,000 Wales fans occupying multiple stands of the stadium in the capital.

Shortly after, yet, James was shown a yellow card and a further booking for Ethan Ampadu resulted in both midfielders are ruled out for the upcoming crucial match with North Macedonia through accumulated bookings.

That home venue match is a clash Wales need to win to move above their rivals and guarantee a better position in the qualifying playoffs in next spring.

Craig Bellamy had an unusual vantage point from the stands, the Wales manager serving a sideline suspension after being shown a additional booking in the qualifiers last month.

The manager's number two Piet Cremers stood in in the coaching zone and several key players – Jordan James, Ethan Ampadu, Rodon, Williams – were at risk of suspension from sitting out the final qualifier. Both James and Ampadu were booked in moments that might hamper their team.

Liechtenstein, ranked near the bottom in world football, had not scored in their winless run and conceded twenty-three goals at an average of around four per fixture.

Wales unsurprisingly had most of the play as their hosts lay in a deep defensive line and defended in numbers.

The home goal remained unthreatened until Nathan Broadhead high press forced an error and James saw his attempt from the edge of the box pushed aside by the goalkeeper.

The same combination worked the next opening, James finding his teammate on this occasion with a precise delivery behind the defence.

Broadhead’s superb touch took him past Büchel but the forward could not convert from a difficult angle.

The Welsh team believed they'd scored the opener after 26 minutes when James headed a high Sorba Thomas corner back into a packed goal area.

The Liechtenstein keeper was flustered by Dylan Lawlor and Joe Rodon, and his poor clearance fell to Nathan Broadhead who scored decisively. But Welsh celebrations were curtailed when the match official was sent to the VAR screen and determined that at least one of the Wales defenders was in an offside position from Jordan's initial touch.

Wales raised the tempo after the break and Thomas provided a centering pass to the far post which Daniel James struck the crossbar.

Williams then missed with a header from inside the goal area as it started to seem like a difficult match for Wales.

Yet, with the game having ticked into its 61st minute, Williams delivered a clever through ball for Daniel James to break behind the home defence.

Daniel James beat the goalkeeper with a excellent pass along the six-yard box, and his namesake Jordan James had the straightforward job of relieving Welsh tension.