Wales stage comeback to claim surprise win against 10-man Norway

[p]The visitors were looking to bounce back from defeat to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/portugal/WvJrjFVN/"]Portugal[/a] in their second game and tested [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ward-danny/48S9d2N4/"]Danny Ward[/a] early on when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/wolfe-moller-david/MLvBwPN0/"]David Moller Wolfe[/a] sent a volley straight at the goalkeeper.[/p][p][b]Moments later, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bobb-oscar/GzxuaXeQ/"]Oscar Bobb[/a] broke the deadlock, making a piercing run between two defenders to reach [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/odegaard-martin/ID32TGhp/"]Marin Odegaard[/a]’s inch-perfect pass and slot into the bottom corner.[/b][/p][p]Craig Bellamy’s men were undeterred, but struggled to find their way past a belligerent defence. It took until the half-hour mark to test [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/nyland-orjan/UJ9btoDi/"]Orjan Nyland[/a], who denied [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/cullen-liam/2wZOKugF/"]Liam Cullen[/a] from a tight angle, while [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ampadu-ethan/bH6VQUwF/"]Ethan Ampadu[/a] sent a long-range strike harmlessly over moments later.[/p][p]At the other end, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/cabango-benjamin/0xs82ck2/"]Ben Cabango[/a] received a huge slice of luck when he inadvertently deflected a fierce cross goalwards, only for Ward to pounce on the loose ball.[/p][p][b]The equaliser came shortly before the break, though, with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/james-daniel/UctCitdL/"]Daniel James[/a] converting his 11th international goal from close range after being expertly picked out by the lively [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/thomas-sorba/YHDXXra7/"]Sorba Thomas[/a].[/b][/p][image alt="Momentum" id="b7e237ad-dcb8-45a7-9332-38c65ee67f30" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="2f40806f-bd89-41b0-af94-abbb867e5b4f" original-width="2160" original-height="2702" /][p]That gave [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/wales/YcUP0Nqp/"]Wales[/a] the momentum going into the second half, and they received a huge boost within 20 seconds of the restart as Stale Solbakken’s side were reduced to 10 men.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/heggem-torbjorn/8di4FI7n/"]Torbjorn Heggem[/a] attempted to shepherd the ball through to his goalkeeper, but realised there was not enough pace on it and had to haul down James.[/p][p][b]To make matters worse for the Scandinavian side, their hosts took the lead from the resulting free-kick, which [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/williams-neco/YVxu86Hs/"]Neco Williams[/a] whipped past a poorly placed wall and into the bottom corner.[/b][/p][embed guid="1a04354f-3ec8-4677-b8c1-470b4baa7fac" url="https://x.com/Cymru/status/2105749893273039026" social-type="twitter" /][p]The game became stretched as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/norway/8rP6JO0H/"]Norway[/a] searched for an equaliser. [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/haaland-erling/UmV9iQmE/"]Erling Haaland[/a] headed off target and the visitors also saw a penalty appeal turned down, but as they pushed forward, there was space at the back for the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/wrexham/IgO7K1ZA/"]Dragons[/a] to exploit.[/p][p]James was denied his second of the night by Nyland and Thomas struck a low shot just wide from 20 yards, before [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/sheehan-josh/OGsSHY2H/"]Josh Sheehan[/a] was also impressively denied by the Norway stopper.[/p][p]A late Norwegian rally eventually came, inspired by the dangerous [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/nusa-antonio/rHwRvHQp/"]Antonio Nusa[/a], and while Wales were rarely threatened, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/larsen-jorgen/lQ5EYyWg/"]Jorgen Strand Larsen[/a] nearly broke home hearts with a powerful strike that whistled past the post.[/p][p]The Dragons' victory eases the pressure on Bellamy and serves as the perfect response to a dreadful performance in Denmark and stretches their unbeaten run in home head-to-heads to four matches.[/p][p]Norway, meanwhile, have lost back-to-back matches for the first time in four years.[/p][p][b]Flashscore Man of the Match: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/williams-neco/YVxu86Hs/"]Neco Williams[/a] ([a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/wales/YcUP0Nqp/"]Wales[/a])[/b][/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/norway-8rP6JO0H/wales-YcUP0Nqp/?mid=zasB5MiC"]Get all the match stats here with Flashscore.[/a][/b][/p][image alt="Match stats" id="fdda1076-e058-4f77-847a-32fb629a4920" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="552c4128-ad01-47f5-b555-785be8f81032" original-width="2160" original-height="2702" /]