AARON Ramsey and Gareth Bale combined to see off Israel as Wales took a huge step towards their aim of qualifying for Euro 2016.

Chris Coleman’s men surged to the top of Group B thanks to a dominant display in Haifa that was too much for the hosts, who started the night as group leaders.

Goals either side of the break from Ramsey and Bale put the visitors in charge before a red card for home defender Eitan Tibi and a second strike from Bale sealed all three points.

The result and the supremely confident performance will only reinforce the growing belief inside the squad that they can make it to France next summer.

And Coleman will have a tough job on his hands to stop the Welsh public getting carried away with thoughts of a first major tournament since the World Cup of 1958, when Jimmy Murphy's side beat Israel in a play-off to qualify.

Ramsey’s opener came directly from a Wayne Hennessey goal kick that bounced over Hal Robson-Kanu and reached Bale deep in the Israeli penalty area.

The Real Madrid star nodded it back to Ramsey, who climbed above Tal Ben Haim and placed his header perfectly over Ofir Marciano to score his ninth goal for the senior national side on the stroke of half-time.

Bale put the visitors in a commanding position five minutes after the break with an expertly placed free-kick from the edge of the area that gave Marciano no chance.

And any hopes the hosts had of fighting their way back into the match were ended just one minute later when defender Eitan Tibi received his second yellow card in two minutes to give Wales a man advantage to go with their two-goal advantage.

Tibi’s first booking was for tripping Bale as he surged into the penalty area to concede the crucial free-kick that led to the second goal.

And the second was for another cynical block on Bale as he again raced towards goal.

That left Israel with a mountain to climb and they never really looked like threatening Coleman’s men in the second half.

In fact Bale really should have added to his free-kick earlier than the 77th minute as he blasted into the side netting minutes after the red card.

Ramsey and substitute Sam Vokes both tested Marciano again before the £86m superstar fired in from Ramsey’s cut back to finish the job 13 minutes from time.

The most relieved man on the plane home will be Newport’s James Collins who could so easily have been the villain if things had panned out differently.

The West Ham United defender, making his first international appearance for more than a year because of an injury to James Chester, was a solid presence at the back for Wales.

But if Ramsey and Bale hadn’t produced the goods later on he would have been plagued by nightmares about his horror miss after 19 minutes.

Bale picked him out brilliantly with a cross from the left of the penalty area and Collins only had to side-foot into an empty net at the far post but somehow managed to tread on the ball and a glorious chance went begging.

Hennessey only had one real save to make in the first half when he pushed an Eran Zahavi shot behind after half an hour.

The Crystal Palace stopper was called into action late on to stop Tomer Hemed getting his head to substitute Ben Sahar’s cross and to block Sahar’s sweetly struck effort seven minutes from time.

But the win was well deserved for Wales who will stay top until at least Tuesday and can look forward with relish to a home clash with group favourites Belgium at the Cardiff City Stadium in June.

Israel: Marciano; Dgani, Tal Ben Haim, Tibi, Ben Harush; Yeini, Natcho, Refaelov; Tal Ben Haim II (Biton, 60), Zehavi (Sahar, 71), Damari (Hemed, 43)

Wales: Hennessey; Gunter, Williams, Collins, Davies, Taylor; Allen, Ledley (Vaughan, 48), Ramsey (MacDonald, 86); Robson-Kanu (Vokes, 69), Bale

Argus star man: Gareth Bale