Wales captain Ben Davies described head coach Craig Bellamy as “Mr Calm” after his side made hard work of their opening World Cup qualifier to beat Kazakhstan.
Wales were well below their best but won 3-1 against a stubborn Kazakhstan side, who are ranked 110th in the world, in Cardiff on Saturday.
Bellamy had a reputation for being a fiery character during a successful but often controversial playing career at clubs such as Liverpool, Newcastle United and Manchester City.
Since taking charge of Wales last year, however, the former Wales captain has shown himself to be more mature and considered.
“They made it really difficult for us, they were compact. You could see in the first half we forced a lot of balls when we didn’t really need to,” Davies, who scored Wales’ second goal, told Match of the Day Wales.
“In the second half we were much more disciplined and we got the job done, which is the most important thing. The goal [Davies scored] came at such a perfect time for us, the longer it goes on at 1-1 it makes it a bit of a tense game.
“We’ve all been in games like that where you go into it as favourites, you have a lot of expectations to walk all over a team, but you know it’s never the case. They’re a proud nation that’s out on the pitch trying to win a game just like us.
“The players were the ones that were the most frustrated at half-time, whereas Bellamy came in Mr Calm, he came in with a plan, was clear in the messaging he gave us and what he expected in the second half, he simply asked for more energy and keep doing what we’re doing.”
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