Intelligent and brave Wales repeat 2016 heroics as last sixteen beckons.

My knowledge of the Welsh language is sketchy at best. I can count up to five, ask do you like coffee and I know what pel droid is, but it’s a bit of a struggle after that. Actually, there is something else I can add to that extensive list – at about five to seven tonight, I found Dafydd Iwan’s Yma O Hyd on my favourite Spotify playlist and put it on full blast because you can send us 3,000 miles away to bloody Azerbaijan to play while England and Scotland don’t have to cross water to fulfil their fixtures and you can send us to Rome to play the best team I’ve seen in the tournament so far, but Wales are still here (that’s what Yma O Hyd is about) and they’re going to be in the last sixteen of the Euros to continue their brilliant record in major tournaments when they  are able to qualify for them!

I’m counting chickens a bit there, but, following the magnificent 2-0 beating of a Turkish team picked by many to go an awful long way in this tournament in front of 34,000 supporters of the Turks and a four hundred person red wall that, unlike Labour’s, stood solid and unyielding against the odds, only a freakish combination of results will deny us one of the four best third place finishers in the six groups now.

All of that presupposes that we’ll lose to Italy in Rome on Sunday of course – we probably will, but when the force is with Welsh teams in European Championship finals, strange and magical things can happen!

This wasn’t the Wales that stumbled to a point against Switzerland on Saturday or the one that edged through a nervy confrontation with Northern Ireland in Paris in 2016, it was the one that blew away the Russians and outfought and out footballed tournament favourites Belgium in that unforgettable Quarter Final five years ago.

Actually, there was another comparison with that night in Lille which was, arguably, the best in Welsh football history because, although the match was not played in Belgium, it may as well have been as it was only ten miles or so from the border with that country. While Wales were not as close geographically to Turkey tonight, this, like Belgium, was an away game for us as we were up against the undoubted local favourites because of the historical, language, military and trading ties between Azerbaijan and Turkey.

I had a moan about the format of this tournament on Saturday, so I won’t say too much here on that subject now except that Switzerland and Wales have been dealt a very rough hand compared to the other two teams in their group with Italy having three home matches and, effectively, Turkey having two. So, us and the Swiss have to play two away matches with the third one played in sweltering conditions on neutral territory in front of a small crowd.

Still, when you get nights like tonight, the against the odds aspect of the whole thing only makes it all the sweeter.

I like to think the post game reaction pieces I do on here can be thoughtful and analytical at their best, but forget that this time – this is just going to be pure emotion tonight!

When I learned that Robert Page had picked an unchanged side for the game, I joined in with the general criticism of that decision and said that nearly all of the team would have to up their game by something like fifty per cent to get the win we needed – we got that and more.

So, I think I owe Robert Page an apology for thinking he’d got it wrong by giving Saturday’s much criticised midfield two another chance – Joe Allen was very close to being the player he was in 2016, while Joe Morrell’s contribution was best summed up by the two headed clearances within a minute he made from Turkish headers from corners that were possibly on their way into the net (just about the only criticism I could offer of tonight’s display was that the weakness when defending some corners we saw against Switzerland was continued).

I would not have had Morrell in the starting line up tonight, but here he was the calming presence that he has been in most of the matches he has played for Wales before Saturday. Similarly, I would have left out Chris Mepham, but he was very good – especially for someone who in the last few months has been finding football more of a struggle than it had been for most of his career.

In goal, Danny Ward didn’t have to perform the repeated heroics of Saturday, but he was there to superbly deny sub Demiral in the eighty seventh minute when a Turkish head again got the first touch on a corner (it was noticeable that the Turks almost entirely avoided aiming their corners into the near post territory guarded by Keiffer Moore). Connor Roberts stabbed in the game sealing second goal deep into added time and performed his defensive duties efficiently while getting forward more than he did against Switzerland and Joe Rodon relished the defending that was required as Turkey enjoyed long periods of possession and pressure in the second half.

However, apart from that Demiral header and a bad miss by captain Bural Yilmaz when he fired well over from six yards out, Wales were generally unflappable and in control at the back with Ben Davies looking close to his best after the injury which caused him to miss the end of the season.

Ethan Ampadu was composed and controlled as a replacement for Allen in the final twenty minutes and, while there was no goal this time for Keiffer Moore, he played a full part in the game as he again stayed on for the duration and in what was a vibrant attacking performance by the team, he shed blood again for his country (this time from his nose), while the Turks were terrified of Dan James’ pace as he again put in a strong claim to be judged as Wales’ man of the match.

However, it was the two veterans, Bale and Ramsey that provided the class tonight. If I could only pick two words to describe how Wales played they would be intelligent and brave and these two (it only seems to be five minutes ago that they were making their introductions to Wales fans as precocious sixteen year olds!) epitomised those qualities.

I can remember Ramsey absolutely running the show at Hampden Park on a snowy night about ten years ago in a game in which he got sent off in late on – we were so much on top that night that, even when Scotland took the lead, it seemed to me that it was inevitable that we were going to win (we did by 2-1). For about half an hour tonight, it felt like that game with Scotland and the Bale/Ramsey axis was at the heart of our dominance.

Although I thought Ramsey did well defensively against the Swiss, neither man was at their best, but here, unusually, it was Bale being the provider and Ramsey the target of his captain’s passes – Harry Kane has, rightly, been praised for his role as a provider this season, but his 20/21 teammate Bale bettered him tonight.

Three times Bale found Ramsey with brilliant passes that left the Juventus player in on goal following superb runs which took him clear of a statuesque looking defence. On the first occasion, Ramsey left Leicester’s Caglar Soyuncu on his backside before trying to beat goalkeeper Cakir on his near post only for the shot be saved.

Bale then clipped a delicious low ball for Ramsey in glorious isolation who never looked to have it fully under control and fired hurriedly over the top (replays of the incident tended to indicate that VAR would have ruled any goal out for offside though).

These two misses came when Wales were on top and there was a Moore header over from a James cross and a fine block by Soyuncu as Moore looked to pounce after Bale and James had won far post headers. The Leicester man also foiled Bale in a three on two Wales break. After that though, the Turks had got themselves back into things with some midfield control ensuring they had a ten minute spell where they dominated possession..

So, there was a feeling that Wales, and Ramsey in particular, could be made to rue their misses, but showing that intelligence I mentioned earlier, Bale hit his best pass yet on forty three minutes and Ramsey, one of the bravest footballers around, did not let his previous misses stop him from making another fine run – this time the instant control and calm finish left Cakir helpless.

Although the second half was always going to be more of a holding operation, there were still plenty of chances for the Welsh. Cakir blocked a Ramsey shot from a Roberts cross, then Bale was fouled by right back Zeki Celik, an offence which referee Artur Diaz deemed, correctly in my opinion, to be just inside the area. Bale took the kick himself and missed the first penalty in normal time in the Euros for twenty one years apparently as he shot wildly over the bar with watching City fans muttering “why didn’t they give it to Keiffer?”.

Within a minute Bale closed down Cakir so well that his block of the attempted clearance flew no more than a yard away from the goal, but the captain had the last laugh by running along the bye line after receiving a corner in added time that was surely meant to be kept close to the flag and working his way into a shooting position. Bale’s long wait for an international goal continued as his shot was blocked and Moore’s follow up effort turned away, but Wales would surely have been happy enough to have gained another corner to eat up some more valuable seconds.

Incredibly, Bale showed that bravery I mentioned as he tried exactly the same thing again from the other side of the pitch. The Turkish defence was clearly at fault for allowing a repeat of what had happened a few seconds earlier, but they must have known it was not going to be their night by then and this time, rather than shooting, Bale chose to feed Roberts who rolled the ball in from six yards to seal a famous victory that reduced some of the watching red wall to tears.

As I’ve been writing this, Italy have been beating Switzerland 3-0, I make it therefore that only a combination of a defeat in Rome and a big win for the Swiss over Turkey can stop us finishing in the top two with the automatic qualification that would follow.

Finally, I know I’m biased, but Wales lived up to a reputation they gained in 2016 as one of the tournament’s more entertaining sides tonight – we may not be able to match the heroics of five years ago, but, with tonight’s brilliant win, the class of 2021 have left supporters with another unforgettable occasion to savour in years to come – my thanks to all involved tonight.