Joe Allen scored his first international goal for Wales as Chris Coleman's side began their 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign with a victory after beating visitors Moldova 4-0 in Group D this evening.
Coleman and his charges might have expected an industrious showing from the away side and that is exactly what they got in a frustrating opening 30 minutes at the Cardiff City Stadium.
The Dragons slowly grew in dominance and might have won a penalty when Chris Gunter went down under a robust challenge from Alexandru Dedov, only for the referee to wave play on.
Wales continued to mount the pressure on the visitors, who stood firm right up until a moment of brilliance from Gareth Bale changed the course of the game.
Given too much room on the right flank, the Real Madrid frontman was able to pick out an inch-perfect delivery for the run of Sam Vokes, who climbed high above his marker to head beyond a helpless Ilie Cebanu in the Moldovan goal.
The opener clearly took the weight off Coleman's men and they appeared more positive in the closing stages of the first half, allowing Allen to make use of a poor punch from Cebanu in order to lash into the net to make it 2-0.
Moldova did not make things easy for themselves after the break, this time as Ion Jardan produced a woeful back-pass that allowed Bale to steal in and chip a memorable finish beyond Cebanu.
Wales might have made it four in the closing stages of the encounter, but Andy King found himself short of luck as his standout effort flew just a few inches above the crossbar with Cebanu looking beaten.
The fourth did eventually arrive for the hosts, however, as Bale added his second of the night from the spot in injury time, after Adrian Cascaval was adjudged to have fouled the Madrid man inside the area.
Christopher Dodd
