Ludlow: Three points were the most important
International
17 September 2017

Ludlow: Three points were the most important

Jayne Ludlow insisted the three points were all that mattered after Wales Women got their World Cup qualifying campaign off to winning start.

A second-half goal from Jess Fishlock saw Wales secure a 1-0 victory over Kazakhstan on Sunday at the Astana Arena.

The result puts Ludlow’s side top of Group 1 and extended their run of just one defeat in their last seven qualifying matches.

They were frustrated, however, for long periods against a stubborn Kazakhstan side who reached this stage after coming through the preliminary round of qualification.

The two sides also met in the EURO 2017 qualifying campaign, with Wales winning both clashes 4-0 – but it was a different case this time around in Astana.

And after Fishlock’s moment of magic sealed the win, Ludlow was understandably delighted to kick-off the campaign with three points ahead of next month’s trip to Russia.

“We came here for three points and thankfully we are going home with them,” she said.

“It was a slightly different challenge to what we were expecting because Kazakhstan were structurally very different to how they have played previously.

“They had a lot of bodies in front of goal which made it hard for us to break them down, but that’s something for us to learn from and work on as we look towards the game against Russia.

“Their goalkeeper had a good game but thankfully Jess (Fishlock) made the most of an opportunity and got the win for us because it wasn’t a game full of goal scoring opportunities.

“But the most important statistic is the scoreline. The three points is what we needed and that’s what we’ve got.”