World Cup

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World Cup Qualifying - Europe | Group Stage

Oct 9, 2016 at 5pm UK

Wales
1-1
Georgia

Bale (10')

FT(HT: 1-0)

Okriashvili (57')

Chris Coleman: 'Georgia draw is only a blip'

By Barney Corkhill, Editor | 09 October 2016

Wales manager Chris Coleman insists that his side's 1-1 draw with Georgia - a team ranked 127 places below them - is only a "blip".

Wales manager Chris Coleman has insisted that his side's 1-1 draw with Georgia this evening was only a "blip".

Gareth Bale's early header looked set to send Wales on course for victory against a team ranked 127 places below them, but Tornike Okriashvili rescued a point for the visitors shortly before the hour mark.

Subsequent victories for Serbia and the Republic of Ireland have seen Wales drop down to third in Group D, but Coleman insists that there is still plenty more to play for.

"I'd have been amazed if we'd gone through the campaign without a blip and without somebody giving you a little tap on the shoulder to just remind you how difficult it is at this level. I'm disappointed that we've only got one point and I'm disappointed also with how we went about certain parts of our game. I'm not used to being disappointed at the end of 90 minutes with this lot," he told reporters.

"But it's not the end of the world, there's a lot to play for. It's only three games in. It's a blip. We're missing certain players but I wouldn't make excuses. Once we go ahead we're good enough to do better than what we did in the second half. We looked fatigued, we looked disjointed. We've just had a little slap around the back of the head to say: 'hold on a minute, it's not all plain sailing'.

"For whatever reason we came out in the second half and for five or 10 minutes were all right, then we sat back and invited them on. They've got good enough players to create something. On our day, when we're at our best, we'd go 1-0 up in a game like that and come away with the points. But we looked indecisive defensively, individually, for large parts of the second half. We just kept backing off and backing off, and we haven't done that for a long time."

Wales take on Group D leaders Serbia in their next qualifying match in November.