WALES 1 FINLAND 1

WALES ushered in the new era for Chris Coleman with a lacklustre draw with Finland at the Cardiff City Stadium, writes Michael Pearlman.

Boss Coleman, who ended speculation that he was set for Premier League basement boys Crystal Palace by penning a new two-year deal with the FAW on Thursday, saw his side pegged back at the death, having led courtesy of Andy King’s firm header on the hour.

Shorn of the retiring Craig Bellamy and the ill Aaron Ramsey, Coleman will be concerned with how toothless Wales were in attack even though they looked assured defensively with goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey again in fine form.

Even the presence of £86 million man Gareth Bale failed to lift the gloom in a lifeless encounter, the last-gasp equaliser a touch unfortunate for Wales considering their goalkeeper barely had a save to make.

Both sides exhibited some neat touches in a cagey opening, the two teams looking pretty closely matched in a contest of few chances.

However, things were a bit too close for the world’s most expensive player, Gareth Bale the victim of two heavy challenges in the opening minutes that would’ve had those in the Bernabéu wincing.

The bigwigs at the FAW had no doubt hoped that Bale’s presence, coupled with the rugby match earlier in the afternoon, would help to swell the crowd numbers at the Cardiff City Stadium, but that didn’t transpire and the atmosphere felt flat.

The visitors began to exert some control and almost took the lead after 15 minutes, Celtic’s Teemu Pukki wriggling clear and shooting across Wayne Hennessey, but the woodwork came to Wales’ rescue.

It was a long 26 minutes before Wales even came close to threatening, Bale’s accurate corner almost turned in by Sam Ricketts who just failed to make a telling connection at the near post.

Bale still looks short of the phenomenal form he produced last season but did show glimpses of the ability that mean he’s already a hit at his new club, a sensational run and cross on 37 minutes deserving of more as striker Sam Church was nowhere to be found.

The second half started at a similarly prosaic pace as the first, Wales not hitting their stride until Simon Church saw a reasonable shout for a penalty turned down.

That seemed to spark life into the hosts with Bale coming close seconds later, jinxing in from the right and hammering at Lukas Hradecky who palmed away the first effort on target of the entire game.

Wales sniffed a goal and it duly arrived just before the hour, Andy King heading home Robson-Kanu’s pinpoint centre.

The goal signalled the beginning of a genuine contest, an hour of lethargic and uninspiring, insipid football warming up rather nicely as the cold set-in in Cardiff.

Tim Sparv produced the first genuine Finnish chance, but Hennessey foiled him with a smart stop.

Many would have expected to see no more than 45 minutes of Bale, an hour tops, but the former Tottenham winger was still at the heart of anything good for Wales throughout, firing at Hradecky with nine minutes remaining and leaving the fans with a feeling of money well spent by playing 90 minutes that far eclipsed the team performance as a whole.

However, there was still time for a shock leveller, Riku Riski taking advantage of some poor defending in stoppage time to slip the ball under Hennessey and plunder a draw.

Wales: Hennessey, Gunter (Richards 71), Taylor (Davies 71), Ricketts, Williams, Ledley, Allen (Tudur-Jones 89), King, Bale, Robson-Kanu (Cotterill 84), Church (Vokes 62)

Subs not used: Fon Williams, Huws, Easter, Wiggins, Ward

Booked: King

Finland: Hradecky, Moisander (Pasanen 62), Ojala (Toivio 46), Eremenko, Pukki (Hamalainen 62), Riski, Arkivuo (Lampi 46, Raitala 70), Sparv, Schuller (Hetemaj 70), Uronen, Ring

Subs not used: Maenpaa, Vayrynen, Hurme, Mattila, Pohjanpalo, Joronen

Booked: Sparv

Referee: Sebastian Delferiere (Belgium)

Attendance: 11809

Argus star man: Gareth Bale (Wales)