Russell Martin claimed Norwich City’s players apologised for leaving with all three points after their 1-0 victory. It was a strange revelation, given that the Canaries scored the only goal of the game and for the most part dealt quite comfortably with what the Swans could throw at them. Martin’s side had 65 per cent possession and attempted 17 shots, but as Spain have found to their cost in the World Cup, statistics – particularly those around possession and passing – do no not always equate to an ability to win matches or even score.

Cardiff City manager Mark Hudson has heaped praise on young striker Kion Etete after his role in the Bluebirds’ 2-2 draw at Stoke City. The 21-year-old – who moved to Cardiff from Cheltenham in the summer for £500,000 – came on as a second-half substitute when Hudson’ side were 2-1 down. Within two minutes, Callum Robson had scored the equaliser for Cardiff who resumed their Championship campaign by avoiding a third successive defeat.

Joe Allen is fit and available for Swansea City, despite claims by head coach Russell Martin that his midfielder played too many minutes against England at the World Cup. The Wales star returned from Qatar having suffered more hamstring problems during the final group stage game, where he played 81 minutes before being substituted. Allen had gone to the tournament with major doubts over his fitness, but managed to recover sufficiently to come on and play 13 minutes in the second match against Iran.

Rubin Colwill will go straight from the World Cup finals to a tough-looking Championship match for Cardiff City away to Stoke City on Saturday. Bluebirds manager Mark Hudson has confirmed that Colwill is available for the club’s resumption of their campaign, despite having spent the past month with Wales at the tournament in Qatar as well as the build-up. Colwill only played nine minutes at the tournament, when he came on as a substitute during the late stages of the 3-0 defeat to England.

Football in Wales is set to go ahead on the day of the King’s coronation on May 6. The Football Association of Wales cancelled all fixtures on the weekend following the death of the Queen in September, receiving criticism in particular for the decision to prevent children from playing by postponing youth-team matches. But there will be no repeat when Charles is crowned at Westminster Abbey, with the JD Cymru Premier play-offs to determine European qualification among the fixtures due to take place in Wales that day.

By Paul Jones Cardiff City and Swansea City continue their preparation, as the Sky Bet Championship is set to make a return following the World Cup break. EFL chief executive, and former Swansea City Chairman Trevor Birch feels the recent experiment of a first ‘Innovation Game’ can only have helped showcase the league’s unique selling […]

Former Wales captain Ieuan Evans could wield the knife on Wayne Pivac next week – even though he has seen before the disaster it threatens. Just a week into his new job as chairman of the Welsh Rugby Union, Evans must help decide the fate of head coach Pivac. With Warren Gatland also being tapped up by England, Evans knows the WRU must move fast if they decide to dump Pivac after a wretched 2022 in which the New Zealander won just three out of 12 matches.

By Hannah Blackwell His eyes welling up, Roberto Martinez said his goodbyes and left, his next whereabouts unknown. It is the end of an era for Belgium’s golden generation. But for the former Swansea City manager who led the Red Devils to third place at the 2018 World Cup, it is the beginning of something […]

Connor Roberts insists the future for Wales is still bright – whatever happens to the older generation of stars for whom the World Cup could be a final curtain call. The Wales defender claims the current crop of Wales players under the age of 30 can continue to ensure the nation regularly qualifies for the finals of major tournaments. The futures of Gareth Bale, 33, Aaron Ramsey, 32 this month, Joe Allen, 32, and 35-year-old Wayne Hennessey have been under the spotlight since Wales finished bottom of Group B in Qatar, with a single point from one draw and two defeats.

Gareth Bale & co may have been dominating the hearts and minds of Welsh sports fans with their efforts in Qatar, but Cardiff City will grab the limelight on Wednesday night when the club hosts a special tribute match to honour one of their all-time greats. Peter Whittingham was at the heart of everything that was good about the Bluebirds for more than a decade, a period during which the club reached a League Cup final, a Play-off Final, an FA Cup Final and, finally, the promised land of the Premier League. His achievements and statistics – 96 goals in 457 games – will stand the test of time, especially in the ultra-professional modern era.

Gareth Bale insists he wants to carry on playing for his country but the real question now is whether his country needs him. As Wales’ World Cup journey came to an end, Bale and the rest of the squad stood and applauded their fans, packed into a small section behind the goal at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, a venue that holds few memories, only promises of a bright, shiny space-age future. But what future for this Wales team, their foot soldiers and their decorated generals, following a 3-0 defeat to England and the end of an underwhelming campaign in Qatar.

You know that sporting cliché, “We need a miracle.” Well, Wales need two. To stay in the World Cup, to make it out of the group stages and into the excitement of the knockout round of 16 in Qatar, Wales need two things to happen.

Dean Saunders has urged Wales manager Robert Page to ignore demands to axe Aaron Ramsey for the do-or-die World Cup clash against England. Wales midfielder Ramsey – so often the beating heart of Welsh triumphs over the years – has been a shadow of himself at the tournament so far. That has led to siren calls for him to be dumped by Page for the final group stage game, with either Joe Morrell, Jonny Williams, Dylan Levitt or Matthew Smith called in to replace him.

Gareth Bale believes in miracles and why shouldn’t he? This is a footballer who was once considered a cursed left back with Tottenham Hotspur who went on to win five Champions League titles as lethal attacker with Real Madrid. From a defender who always seemed to lose with Spurs, to a striker who won everything with the biggest club in the world.

Say it ain’t so, Joe. That phrase passed into sporting immortality when an American reporter allegedly asked baseball star ‘Shoeless’ Joe Jackson about his admission that he’d fixed the 1919 World Series. (He hadn’t). It was also asked – in a roundabout way – by reporters to Joe Allen on Sunday when he was quizzed on whether making the World Cup knockout stages in Qatar was now a lost cause.

Joe Allen insists Wales’ final World Cup group clash against is not “mission impossible” and has also defended Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey against their critics. Wales will go into Tuesday’s game against their oldest enemy requiring two small miracles to occur simultaneously. Firstly, they have to beat England for the first time since 1984 and prevent their biggest rivals from gaining a seventh successive victory.

By Matthew Burgess Defending Cup holders Connah’s Quay reached a third successive Nathaniel MG Cup final after veteran marksman Michael Wilde secured a 2-0 victory over Taffs Well. Wilde, a three-time winner of the League Cup from previous spells with The New Saints and the Nomads, pounced from close range on Callum Morris’ probing delivery […]

Brennan Johnson insists Wales can shock England and keep their World Cup dream alive. Wales’ hopes of making the knockout stages were left hanging by a thread after losing 2-0 to Iran. England’s goalless draw with the United States on Friday night means that Wales still have a path to the round of 16, but qualification is out of their own hands unless they beat Gareth Southgate’s side by a four-goal margin.

It must have felt a long way from Tylorstown as Robert Page starred out towards the world’s media and tried to explain how the heady optimism of just 16 ago had evaporated under a hot Arabian sun. Little more than two weeks ago, the Wales manager was in his home village, announcing the squad he would take to take to a World Cup finals, the first Wales manager to do so for 64 years. Now, that adventure already seems to drawing to a close after just two games following a 2-0 to Iran which was unexpected, but felt feasible from the moment Kieffer Moore missed an early opportunity.

By Graham Thomas Kieffer Moore can terrify Iran when Wales play their second match at the World Cup in Qatar on Friday. That’s the prediction of former Wales striker Iwan Roberts, who was once a similar big, powerful target man for both club and country and became a folk hero at Norwich City. Moore is […]