WALES boss Chris Coleman felt the vital 2-1 win over Cyprus was the kind of contest the Dragons would’ve thrown away in previous campaigns.

Wales now top Euro 2016 qualifying group B thanks to first half goals from David Cotterill and Hal Robson Kanu.

Cyprus didn’t make it easy however, pulling a goal back before Andy King received a straight red card and Wales were forced to defend doggedly to ensure three vital points.

“I can safely say looking back, I enjoyed it, but my heart sank when the red card came out,” Coleman explained.

“We got a bit complacent at 2-0 and though the red card was a heavy challenge, he could’ve sent one or two of their players off.

“We probably wouldn’t have won this game in the last campaign, the belief and the togetherness in the squad is the difference, we’ve seen how much it means to the players. As a nation we can’t ask any more of them.

“In the last campaign we were probably playing better football but now we have the other side to our game, the ability to grind out results.

“In the last campaign we wouldn’t have won the Andorra or Cyprus games, but you only get three points whether you win 1-0 or 5-0.”

Coleman didn’t especially take issue with rough treatment handed out to his talisman Gareth Bale; five Cypriot players booked in an extremely physical encounter, though he was aggrieved to finish with a man disadvantage.

“Gareth knows before he walks on the pitch he’s going to be kicked,” he said. “I knew as soon as Simon Church popped his shoulder and the linesman gave a foul and the referee ignored him, you think ‘here we go.’ “I have no complaints over Cyprus, the referee is there to do a job and protect the players and some of the freekicks that were missed on Baley were surprising, we lost a bit of trust in the officials fairly quickly.”

Coleman also paid tribute to his entire squad, with Robson Kanu producing one of his best displays.

“Some of the supporting players came in and did so well, Robson Kanu has hardly played for six weeks and he just kept going, with and without the ball,” he said.

“David Cotterill’s defending down to ten men was magnificent and it takes the pressure off our next game in Belgium, by getting the results we wanted tonight.

“Our mindset had to be different tonight; we had the mentality of getting the result we really needed.

“We’ve got a stronger unity, everyone talks about our star players but they are hardly ever all together on the same pitch, it happens once in a blue moon.

“It’s about the squad, we’ve had an influx of new blood, mixed with our senior players stepping up and we have a huge togetherness and belief.

“We are on a good run and teams are going to need to step up to beat us. It’s been too easy in the past, but we have a will to win and that breeds confidence and togetherness.”

Cyprus manager Pambos Christodoulou denied his side overstepped the mark in their treatment of Gareth Bale, who was kicked from pillar to post.

“We lost a big chance to take some points,” he said.

“We didn’t start well but in the second half we were the better team and created the better chances.

“We have shown we have started thinking like a big team, dominating a big nation like Wales who have quality players.

“What I said about Bale is exactly what we did do, when he has the ball you need to be more concentrated to try and stop him. But we prepared to deal with Wales the team, not just one player.

“It was a strong game, fouls are part of the game, Bale took a strong foul but it was a yellow card, we saw worse fouls, like the one that led to a Wales player getting a red card.”