Wales claim win in Finland

Wales claimed a stunning smash and grab raid in Helsinki, beating Finland 2-0 in their opening Euro 2004 qualifier.

John Hartson grabbed his fifth in seven competitive matches while Simon Davies struck the killer goal late on.

It was enough to destroy a Finnish side who had plenty of possession but few shots.

Hughes went for a packed midfield by including Andy Johnson alongside Mark Pembridge and Robbie Savage in the engine room, with Davies and Ryan Giggs wide and skipper Gary Speed now entrenched in his new position of left-back.

Finland decided on Shefki Kuqi up front instead of Jonaton Johansson while Ville Nylund was in for the injured Petri Pasanen to face Giggs.

Hartson got away with sending Hannu Tihinen crashing to the ground on nine minutes but Pembridge was not so lucky, booked a minute later for a foul on Jari Litmanen.

Litmanen was a constant danger, finding space with such ease, and one ball to Nylund ended with a viciously swerving cross that dropped between Danny Gabiddon and Paul Jones, but thankfully for the Welsh, sped on out of play.

The Austrian official was being overworked with a string of offences, and got the book out again when Tihinen cut down Savage in full flow on 20 minutes.

But on the half hour Wales grabbed the lead. Jones' long kick was headed on by Speed, Giggs got some sort of connection in the box and that fooled the defence and there was Hartson all alone six yards out to drive the ball into an empty net.

Finland's response was more flying action from Nurmela, and a 40th minute swirling free-kick from Litmanen that cleared Jones' bar, and then a Tihinen header over from an Aki Riihilahti free-kick.

A minute from the break Davies robbed Janne Saarinen and raced for goal, to be body checked by Sami Hyypia on the edge of the box, and he was booked and lucky to stay on the pitch.

Straight from the restart, Finland went close when Nylund's cross from the right was flicked just over the bar by Kuqi.

But a Wales break showed they could be dangerous with the pace in the side and Davies sped away to find Giggs, who sent Johnson into the box, but some sound defending by Hyypia blotted out the WBA midfielder.

When Delaney's fine run won a 60th minute corner, Wales went close when Giggs' flag kick was headed just wide by the towering Hartson.

Finland responded by bringing on another striker in Jonaton Johansson in place of full back Nylund and Jones did need to be at his best to touch a Kuqi header onto the bar and over.

Wales broke out on 72 minutes to score a wonderful second goal. Savage picked up a lose ball in midfield and fed Giggs who set off on a run that had defenders backing away in fear. His pass to the feet of Davies was perfection, and the youngster drilled home his second goal in successive internationals.

Craig Bellamy came on with 15 minutes left and in the dying minutes Bellamy's run presented Davies with another great chance, and his superb chip was clawed out from under the bar by Antti Niemi.