Jayne Ludlow Admits: I Don’t Want To Go Through Another Wales Game Like The Last

Jayne Ludlow has revealed the extent of her frustration as Wales manager as she bids to guide her team to qualification for Euro 2021.

Ludlow has named her squad to visit Belarus on October 8 and has been able to recall Rachel Rowe and Nadia Lawrence, who have both recovered from injury.

But the Wales boss has admitted there needs to be a huge improvement from the 2-2 draw at home to Northern Ireland in their last match, where she says there was a “blank moment” where she has confessed the team looked clueless.

Wales were defending a 2-1 lead at Rodney Parade at the time and Ludlow says: “There was a moment in the last game where I looked at the group and thought, ‘have we forgotten where we are and what we’re doing?’

“It was a blank moment – which was disappointing given the experience we had out on the pitch. We did have some inexperience, but for us playing at home should be a big positive. Yet we were so slow starting.

“We will be doing our best to change things, because I don’t want to go through another game watching those things.”

A mistake late on from goalkeeper Laura O’Sullivan enabled Northern Ireland to gain a 2-2 draw, which leaves Wales with four points from two matches played and led to some players being subjected to personal abuse on social media.

But more than individual errors it was the collective brain freeze – the “blank moment” – that alarmed Ludlow and caused her to go through touchline agonies at Rodney Parade.

“There’s a big emotional content to what we’re doing as players and staff, but I wasn’t expecting to feel like that, like I did.

“But we are honest with ourselves and that performance wasn’t good enough on lots of levels. Having said that, we were 2-1 up until the last kick of the game.

“It’s not necessarily a negative thing. The fact is we came away with a point, having played so poorly in certain areas – that is a positive.

“The first two years were a learning period as staff and we went through lots of low times, but the last game was a big wake up call.”

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Ludlow is still without her most talented, experienced and influential player in Jeff Fishlock and the US-based player with Reign FC will not be fit again until April as she continues her recovery from a serious knee injury.

Her absence means others have to fill the void and so Ludlow is pleased that the likes of Reading midfielder Rowe and Cardiff City defender Lawrence have returned.

But as Wales continue in their bid to make their first tournament finals, Ludlow believes there still has to be an understanding that an inferior structure for women’s football in Wales, compared to their rivals, means the odds are stacked against them.

She adds: “We are now a second-rank team within the group for the first time, whereas we have always been third-ranked before.

“We are hoping we can qualify, but we know it’s going to be extremely hard. People won’t throw points at us – we have to earn them.

“Coaches who know the environment, and understand it, would acknowledge that we are way off qualifying. Our development programmes in Wales are just not good enough.

“That’s not me being negative, that’s just me stating facts. We are in the very early stages of developing a national game in Wales. We need help and we need to build partnerships.”