Poland stun Wales to spoil Hughes' farewell

The home side dominated the first half and Robbie Savage finally unlocked the Polish defence with a quick free kick that sent Robbie Earnshaw through to fire across Jerzy Dudek in the 56th minute.

But substitute striker Tomasz Frankowski spoilt the party on 71 minutes when he equalised with a fierce shot before Maciej Zurawski fired past Paul Jones nine minutes from time.

Jacek Krzynowek completed the rout with five minutes later before substitute John Hartson headed in a consolation goal from an injury-time free kick.

But it was too little, too late for Wales, whose new manager will take the job knowing his chances of reaching the World Cup finals in Germany 2006 are very slim.

In his final match before taking full-time charge of Blackburn, Hughes relegated bustling Celtic hitman Hartson to the bench in favour of pacy West Bromwich forward Earnshaw but an illness ruled out star Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs.

Wales desperately needed maximum points to stop Poland pulling away from the pack and keep themselves in the hunt for second place in Group Six behind England.

Right-back Mark Delaney sent a low cross skidding across the face of goal 26 minutes in but Earnshaw slid in just short of a scoring touch.

Bellamy went even closer four minutes later when Speed's measured through ball saw him cutting in from the left but Liverpool goalkeeper Dudek and the foot of the post conspired to keep matters goalless.

Wales became increasingly frustrated with their fruitless labours as Poland hung on, unable to string together any attacking momentum.

But some quick thinking from Savage at a free-kick finally saw Wales take the lead 11 minutes after the interval.

The tenacious Birmingham midfielder, back from suspension, played a through-ball for Earnshaw, and though left-back Tomasz Rzasa attempted to divert the ball to his goalkeeper, the touch was weak and Earnshaw stole in to clip a left-foot shot across Dudek.

Poland threw on Thomasz Klos, Sebastian Mila and Frankowski, who replaced Piotr Wlodarczyk in the 59th minute.

The Wisla Krakow forward got to a Krynowek long ball and cut inside centre-half James Collins who had misjudged the bounce before firing past a stranded Jones.

Alongside John Toshack, Brian Flynn, Ian Rush and Gerard Houllier, skipper Gary Speed is a mooted contender to replace Hughes and he was loundly applauded when Hartson replaced him with 12 minutes left as Wales chased a winner.

But the tactic backfired as first Zurawski scored, the Wisla Krakow striker outpacing Delaney as he bore down on Jones to fire into the top right corner of the net.

Then four minutes later, Bayer Leverkeusen midfielder Krzynowek completed the comeback, again beating Jones from the edge of the area to send Hughes off with the taste of defeat.

Source: fifa.com

Huhges sad farewell

An adventurous Welsh side dominated the first half and deservedly took the lead when Robert Earnshaw scored after 56 minutes.

But the Poles bounced back with three excellent goals in the last 20 minutes from Tomasz Frankowski, Maciej Zurawski and Jacek Krzynowek and John Hartson's late header was a mere consolation.

It was Poland's third successive three-goal away win and kept them right in the hunt on nine points, one behind England, who won 1-0 in Azerbaijan.

For Wales manager Hughes, leaving to become Blackburn Rovers manager, it was a 10th successive competitive match without a win and just about ended the team's qualification hopes.

But the former Welsh striker must have thought he would be departing on a high note after his side shrugged off the absence of flu-victim Ryan Giggs to control the first half.

Earnshaw, Simon Davies and Craig Bellamy all had good chances but their failure to take them eventually proved costly.

They eventually grabbed the lead their attacking endeavours deserved when Earnshaw latched on to a weak back-pass to cleverly steer the ball past Jerzy Dudek with the outside of his foot.

The goals sent the Millennium Stadium wild, the closed roof adding to the atmosphere as the home fans sensed an important victory.

But Polish coach Pawel Janas reacted by throwing on his substitutes and the move paid off after 72 minutes when one of them, Frankowski, lost James Collins and hammered in the visitors' first real chance.

Zurawski squeezed an effort past Paul Jones's near post nine minutes later and the comeback was completed in the 86th when Krzynowek lashed in a brilliant third.

Substitute Hartson headed his injury-time consolation from a Simon Davies free kick but it came too late to spoil Poland's great night.

Source: soccernet.com