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The Welsh side earned a narrow 1-0 success over international minnows Liechtenstein to maintain their aspirations of World Cup finals qualifying.

The young midfielder scored his maiden goal for the national team from inside the box after Liechtenstein’s mix of professionals, amateurs and students had held out for over an hour. James ran off in delight with his clear emotion mirrored by the three thousand Wales supporters occupying most sections of the venue in the capital.

Soon afterwards, however, Jordan James was shown a yellow card and a further booking for Ethan Ampadu resulted in the pair are suspended for Tuesday’s crunch tie with their next opponents through accumulated bookings.

The home venue fixture is a game the Welsh team must win to leapfrog their rivals and guarantee a more favourable seeding in the qualifying playoffs in March.

The Wales manager had an unfamiliar perspective from the dugout, Bellamy serving a touchline ban after receiving a additional booking in the competition previously.

Bellamy’s assistant his assistant 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. Two of them were booked in incidents that may damage their team.

The home side, ranked among the lowest-ranked in global rankings, had not scored in their six qualifying defeats and allowed 23 goals at an rate of nearly four per match.

The visitors unsurprisingly had most of the play as their hosts lay in a deep defensive line and packed their defence.

Their opponent's target saw little action until Nathan Broadhead chasing down forced an error and Jordan James saw his effort from the edge of the box pushed aside by Büchel.

The same combination created another chance, Jordan locating his teammate now with a accurate ball over the top.

The attacker's fine touch evaded the keeper but the attacker could not convert from a difficult angle.

Wales believed they'd broken the deadlock after the first half when Jordan James nodded a deep Sorba Thomas set-piece back into a packed goal area.

Büchel was flustered by Lawlor and Joe Rodon, and his poor clearance reached Nathan Broadhead who drove home emphatically. But Welsh elation were cut short when the referee was instructed to the VAR screen and decided that at least one of the Wales centre-halves was in an offside position from James’s header.

Wales stepped up a gear after the interval and Thomas sent in a ball to the far post which Daniel James struck the frame of the goal.

Neco Williams then missed with a header from within the penalty box as it started to seem like a difficult match for Wales.

Yet, with the game having entered its 61st minute, Williams executed a shrewd pass for his teammate to run past the opposition backline.

James bypassed the goalkeeper with a superb pass across the face of goal, and his teammate Jordan James had the easy task of relieving Welsh tension.