Dragons downed by Popov strike

Wales broke free of the shackles from the Josh Toshack era against Bulgaria but suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat.

Red Dragons' Euro 2012 hopes hanging by a thread

Wales broke free of the shackles from the Josh Toshack dynasty against Bulgaria but suffered a narrow defeat at the Cardiff City Stadium, despite a massively improved showing. Brian Flynn, in temporary charge, saw his players go down to a brave 1-0 reversal that was littered with grains of optimism for Tuesday's trip to Switzerland. But another defeat will see their hopes of qualifying for Euro 2012 in tatters. Chris Gunter should have put Wales ahead with just seven minutes gone when a flowing move saw the ball roll to the unattended Nottingham Forest right-back, but he only succeeded in dragging his shot wide. Steve Morison centred for Gareth Bale to finish from close range, but he was unable to connect with an inviting centre before the roles reversed and Bale middled for the Millwall striker to head at keeper Nikolay Mihallov. The home side cruelly fell behind three minutes after the restart when Ivelin Popov showed a clean pair of heels to evade the home defence and rattle a shot in off the inside of Wayne Hennessey's near post. Morison was thwarted again by Mihallov's excellent save as the Red Dragons rallied, however, a second successive defeat in Group G leaves Wales languishing, with Gunter dismissed in stoppage-time for a professional foul on Dimitar Rangelov.

Sharp and enterprising

The result will not help Flynn's chances of landing the job on a permanent basis, with a theoretically trickier task ahead in Switzerland. After two defeats from two games in a group that also includes England, Wales' chances of finishing even second look slender. Yet for much of the first half Wales, in their first match since the departure of Toshack as manager, had looked sharp and enterprising. A crowd of only 14,061 also suggested Wales still have much to do to re-engage themselves with the public. It was the Eastern Europeans who had the first serious chance when a long-range shot from Georgi Peev was deflected into Wayne Hennessey's arms. But Wales looked energetic and Gunter should have opened the scoring after just seven minutes. Morison let the ball run after Joe Ledley dragged it back across the area but the unmarked Gunter, looking for the far corner, fired across goal and wide. Wales' offensive set-up did leave them open to errors in the early stages and they were almost made to pay as Bulgaria hit them on the counter-attack. Ashley Williams, handed the captain's armband in Craig Bellamy's absence, took time to settle into his midfield role and was caught out as Popov broke clear. Popov fed the onrushing Martin Petrov on the edge of the box but Hennessey produced a fine save from the Bolton winger. The game began to settle down as the first half reached its midpoint. Wales looked to Gunter and Gareth Bale on the flanks to create their chances but their balls into the box either eluded Morison or were dealt with by the defence. Bale, earning rave reviews for his Tottenham performances lately, moved into the centre towards the end of the opening period in a desire to get into the game more. He almost got on the end of a Ledley cross and then worried the Bulgarians with a run at the heart of their defence after a Williams interception. Wales had another brilliant chance on the stroke of half-time as Danny Collins, recalled by Flynn for his first cap in three years, picked out Edwards with a brilliant cross but Nikolay Mihaylov saved the Wolves man's goalbound header.

Upped the tempo

Bulgaria upped the tempo after the break and threatened to overrun the Welsh. Gunter bravely blocked a Martin Petrov shot as the visitors powered forward but Wales could not hold out for long. Popov fired Bulgaria into the lead when he collected the ball from Nikolay Bodurov in the box and beat Hennessey with aid of the woodwork. It almost got worse for Wales as Stiliyan Petrov tested Hennessey from 40 yards with a fierce shot and Martin Petrov then broke clear only to miss the target. Flynn was facing a stern examination, but Morison almost hauled his side level when he skipped a challenge on the edge of the box and forced Mihaylov to push away a strong drive. Hennessey was called upon again to palm away a free-kick from Blagoy Georgiev after James Collins bundled Dimitar Makriev over 25 yards out. Flynn threw on forwards Simon Church and Hal Robson-Kanu late on. Robson-Kanu immediately found space but picked out no-one with his cross. The Reading man then had a chance to equalise, but headed over. Chavdar Yankov almost grabbed a second for Bulgaria in the final minute, but the excellent Hennessey was equal to his low shot. Wales were reduced to 10 men in injury-time when last man Gunter checked substitute Rangelov as he looked to break from inside the centre circle.

Wales	Team Statistics	Bulgaria
0	Goals	1
0	1st Half Goals	0
3	Shots on Target	7
3	Shots off Target	7
0	Blocked Shots	3
5	Corners	6
11	Fouls	11
3	Offsides	0
1	Yellow Cards	4
1	Red Cards	0
76.7	Passing Success	71.5
20	Tackles	21
80	Tackles Success	76.2
61.6	Possession	38.4
52.8	Territorial Advantage	47.2