Wales boss Chris Coleman admits he had hoped the poor conditions in Croatia on Tuesday night would benefit his side for their World Cup qualifier.
Error
While pointing out the surface had played a role in the build-up to the Mandzukic goal, Coleman acknowledged his team had ultimately been guilty of a defensive error, and centre-back Williams took a similar view.
"The conditions played a part in the back-pass; the pitch was ridiculously bad," said Williams.
"But I probably should have hooked it out, knowing what it was like."
Compared to Wales' 6-1 humiliation by Serbia last month, Coleman believes there were positives to take from Tuesday's defeat.
He told
Sky Sports: "Last night, away from home, we took a lot more out of it than we did in the last away game obviously, where we were humiliated against Serbia.
"I know last night we didn't get the result and we made one or two mistakes but overall I thought the players gave it what they had really.
"Against a good team like Croatia, especially away from home, you've got to work extremely hard just to stay in the game. There's long periods where you don't have possession of the ball and you've got to make sure you're in the right place on the pitch, the right position. We did that for as long as we could.
"I was pleased with the players because they did what they could, basically. They were beaten by a very good team."
