Football
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Gareth Bale happy with Wales earning three points, despite tight scoreline

Wales' match-winner Gareth Bale emphasised the importance of points rather than performance after their 2-1 Euro 2016 qualifying win against Andorra.

Andorra took a shock lead in the sixth minute when Swansea full-back Neil Taylor was adjudged to have pulled the jersey of Ivan Lorenzo in the penalty box, before skipper Ildefons Lima sent Wayne Hennessey the wrong way as the home side scored their first competitive goal for 18 matches.

Wales equalised with Bale's header after 22 minutes at the Andorra la Vella before the Real Madrid star won the game with a stunning free-kick 10 minutes from time.

"To get us off to a good start is massively important for us," Bale told Sky Sports 5. "We ourselves have expectations. We want to qualify and if we are to, we have to come to places like this and get victories.

"[For the free-kick] I tried to hit the sweet spot and luckily enough I did -- the important thing for us was to get it out of the way and get three points."

Manager Chris Coleman praised his players for their attitude after falling behind penalty, awarded by the fifth official behind the goal rather than the referee even though there appeared little contact between Neil Taylor and Andorra's Cristian Martinez.

"I think we showed a hell of a lot of courage," Coleman said. "Look at their record and people thought it was a formality but I was worried before we kicked a ball.

"We watched them against Holland when they lost 2-0 and they drew with Finland and they made it difficult for us. But we stuck at it and I'm proud of my team. It wasn't about the performance, we just needed to win the game.

"We've played a lot better than lost but you've got to take that pitch into consideration.

"We could not show our quality but we showed great courage and determination and stayed calm in certain situations when we could have lost our heads."

And Coleman singled out Bale for his magnificent winner, a 25-yard free-kick struck with stunning power and accuracy.

"In the main he couldn't get into flow of it because the pitch wouldn't let him do that. It was too sticky," said Coleman. "But not many players on the planet can score a goal like the second one. Time's ticking, the pressure's on and wallop, it's 2-1."

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