Hughes slams referee but gets welcome boost ahead of Finnish game

MARK HUGHES yesterday criticised German referee Markus Merk’s performance in Milan after Wales’ dreams of qualifying for Euro 2004 were savaged by Italy.

But the Wales manager was given a welcome boost to his injury and suspension-crippled squad, with key defenders Andy Melville and Kit Symons both coming through a lunchtime training session yesterday after the squad had returned to their Cardiff base overnight.

Hughes, who was warned about his touchline behaviour during the game, revealed his anger at the treatment dished out to his players by the German official.

Craig Bellamy, Robbie Savage and Mark Delaney were all booked during the 4-0 rout and will miss the vital meeting with Finland at the Millennium Stadium on Wednesday.

Hughes said: "I was not to pleased with the referee, he even tried to book me. I was disappointed with his performance all evening. Right from the outset he looked as though he had looked at who he had on the pitch and decided that he was going to stamp down on our aggressive players.

"And all night there was absolutely no protection for John Hartson.

"It is all done with now. We have no time to dwell on what happened in Milan, we were beaten on the night by the better side. We will learn from this defeat sometimes you learn more from defeat than winning. My players will look at what happened and know now what it takes to play top international football.

"For a period at the end of the second half we lost our shape as a team and that is not something that has happened to us before, it has been our strength. But I still have great faith in the squad, I know their ability and what they are capable of and we will bounce back.

"It will be different on Wednesday."

Hughes and his squad returned to Cardiff in the early hours of the morning and the manager took charge of a morning training session after the players had been allowed just a few hours' sleep. "All the lads who did not play in the match have had a good training session, we need to see how they are."

It seems the serious defensive selection problems Hughes had before Saturday's match could have eased.

Wales were without three centre-halves at the San Siro through injury but only Danny Gabbidon, with a heel problem, is still on the sick list.

Hughes will have to find a replacement for Delaney and he said: "Both Andy Melville and Kit Symons have trained. They have every chance of making it."

If Melville (foot injury) and Symons (knee) are available for selection, Hughes will at least have options available to him. "We need one of them to be fit at least, we are a bit thin on the ground now. Only Gabbidon looks like it will be too soon for him."

Wales can still clinch a play-off place on Wednesday if they beat the Finns, and can even afford to lose 1-0 as long as Italy beat Serbia in Belgrade.

Hughes said: "There is still much to play for. We will recover and I expect an improvement on Wednesday."