Wales 2 Scotland 1: We deserved to win, insists Chris Coleman

Chris Coleman insisted Wales deserved the first three points of their World Cup qualifying campaign after Gareth Bale’s late brace secured a narrow victory over Scotland in Cardiff.

West Bromwich Albion’s James Morrison gave Scotland a 27th-minute lead with a low finish past Wales goalkeeper Lewis Price.

However, Bale levelled from the spot with nine minutes remaining, before the Tottenham Hotspur winger netted a spectacular winner to keep Wales’ World Cup aspirations alive.

“I thought we got what we deserved tonight, we were the better team,” Coleman told Sky Sports News.

“Scotland scored against the run of play but we were brave tonight and overall we moved the ball very well.

“Any time you win as a manager is a relief but two great goals by a great player has done it for us. We got what we deserved. I honestly believe that.”

Wales suffered a demoralising 6-1 defeat by Serbia in their previous outing, and Bale heaped praise on his team-mates for their response against Scotland.

“We all knew it was a massive game for us,” Bale said. “We let ourselves and the nation down [when we lost 6-1] against Serbia, and we wanted to put things right.

“We fought back like men tonight and got a great result.”

Meanwhile, Craig Levein bemoaned the performances of the officials after Steven Fletcher had what looked a legitimate goal disallowed in the second half.

“The officials got it wrong and, as the game panned out, that second goal was crucial for us and not getting it was a body blow,” Levein told BBC Sport.

“Having a goal chalked off is really difficult to take. An official’s mistake cost us in the last qualifying campaign and that has cost us again. This is very difficult to take.”