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The Welsh side earned a hard-fought 1-0 win over international minnows Liechtenstein to maintain their chances of World Cup progress.

The young midfielder notched his first international strike for Wales from inside the box after the home side's assorted collection of full-time players, office workers and part-timers had resisted for more than 60 minutes. James ran off in delight with his visible excitement echoed by the three thousand Wales followers filling most sections of the venue in the capital.

Moments later, though, James was shown a yellow card and another booking for his midfield partner ensured the pair are unavailable for the upcoming crunch tie with North Macedonia due to accumulated bookings.

That Wales' ground match is a game Wales need to win to overtake North Macedonia and secure a improved seeding in the qualifying playoffs in March.

Bellamy had an unfamiliar perspective from the stands, the head coach serving a touchline ban after picking up a further caution in the competition earlier.

The manager's assistant Piet Cremers stood in in the dugout and four of Wales’s starters – James, Ampadu, Rodon, Neco Williams – were one caution from from being absent for the final qualifier. Both James and Ampadu came unstuck in incidents that might hamper Wales.

Their opponents, ranked near the bottom in global rankings, had failed to score in their winless run and conceded 23 times at an rate of nearly four per game.

Wales as expected controlled the ball as their hosts adopted a deep defensive line and got bodies behind the ball.

The home goal was rarely tested until the forward's pressing forced an error and James saw his effort from the edge of the box parried by Benjamin Büchel.

That pairing crafted an opportunity, James locating Broadhead on this occasion with a accurate ball into space.

Broadhead’s fine first touch took him past Büchel but the forward could not convert from a narrow position.

Wales believed they'd scored the opener after the opening period when James directed a high Sorba Thomas set-piece back into a crowded six-yard box.

The Liechtenstein keeper was harassed by Dylan Lawlor and Joe Rodon, and his poor clearance landed with Nathan Broadhead who scored decisively. But Welsh celebrations were halted when the referee was directed to the pitchside monitor and ruled that a player of the Wales defenders was in an offside from Jordan's initial touch.

Wales stepped up a gear after the half-time and Thomas provided a centering pass to the far post which James struck the crossbar.

Williams then directed his header off target from inside the penalty box as it started to seem like a frustrating evening for the Welsh side.

However, with the game having entered its second half, Williams played a intelligent pass for his teammate to get in behind the Liechtenstein defenders.

Daniel James beat the goalkeeper with a superb pass across the face of goal, and his namesake Jordan had the easy job of ending Wales' nerves.