Football
ESPN staff 9y

Gareth Bale hails 'amazing' team spirit as 10-man Wales see off Cyprus

Gareth Bale says the top of Euro 2016 qualifying Group B is a "great place to be" after 10-man Wales hung on to beat Cyprus 2-1 on Monday night.

The Real Madrid forward put in another man-of-the-match performance with Hal Robson-Kanu and David Cotterill's early goals proving decisive to Chris Coleman's side as Andy King was dismissed just two minutes into the second half.

The Dragons now have seven points from nine and head to Belgium next for a crunch tie on Nov. 16, and the world's most expensive player believes his nation can shock the Red Devils.

"It was a great start, we came out of the blocks and got the start," Bale told Sky Sports.

"We made a little mistake off a set-piece [for the Cyprus goal] but you can see how much the lads want it. We're fighting for each other and the team spirit is amazing. The fans were unbelievable."

Wales had to survive after King was sent off but Bale added: "We worked hard and covered every blade of grass and showed how much we wanted it.

"It's a great place to be. It'll be a big game against Belgium and we'll go there full of confidence."

Wales boss Coleman admitted he feared the worst following King's dismissal, but believes his side now have the experience needed to close out difficult games.

"I was jumping out of my chest," he said. "When I saw the red card I thought it had killed us. We should have been three or four up but got sloppy.

"The red card, so early on, we thought it wasn't going to be our night but credit to our players. We never had determination in the last campaign, we were too soft. We probably played better football but we weren't difficult to beat.

"We are a different group of people this time, the players have really matured. We have incredible togetherness and without that we wouldn't have won the game. We have the most expensive player in the world [Bale] tracking back and making sliding tackles.

"We were gutsy, greedy, and we have to win ugly."

Information from the Press Association was used in this report.

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