Chris Coleman admits Wales weren't at their best in Austria draw
Friday 7 October 2016 10:43, UK
Chris Coleman admitted Wales weren’t at their best against Austria but “found a way” to get an important point.
Wales were twice pegged back by Marco Arnautovic as Austria, who had won each of their last six qualification matches, held the Euro semi-finalists to a 2-2 draw.
In a battle of the two top ranked teams in Group D, Wales led twice thanks to a Joe Allen stunner and a Kevin Wimmer own goal but Arnautovic scored two well-taken equalisers.
The result leaves Wales - on four points - level with three other teams in the Group and Coleman conceded his high-flying side "rode their luck at times" in Vienna.
"It wasn't our best performance but if you look at Austria's record here it's second to none. It's fantastic. They are a very good team and we knew we'd be up against it. If we wanted to take the three points we needed to be on top of our game in every department and we weren't.
"But we found a way - by hook or by crook. We were riding our luck at times. We might have won it ourselves."
Gareth Bale, who had a subdued evening, agreed with his manager that Wales were far from their best.
Bale said: "It's a difficult place to come if you look at their record in qualifying. They didn't lose at all (in qualifying for the Euros) and drew one game. We know we weren't at our best tonight. It was a difficult game, they're a very good team.
"This is what we've grown up to do - we grind out results when we need them. When we don't play well we defend solidly as a team. We get something from the game.
"We were frustrated. We know we didn't play well enough tonight. They made it very difficult for us there wasn't much space up front.
"Ultimately we would have loved to have played better and won the game. We have to take the positives from the game, it's a very difficult place to come. We grinded out a two-all."
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