Bellamy insists Wales ‘performance was more important’ than win over Norway

Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.

Craig Bellamy insisted Wales’ “performance was more important” than their win over Norway on Thursday.

Wales came from behind to defeat 10-man Norway 2-1 in the Nations League, ending a seven-match winless run across all competitions.

Daniel James cancelled out Oscar Bobb’s opener before Torbjorn Heggem was shown a straight red card early in the second half, with Neco Williams scoring the winner from the resulting free-kick.

Heggem was sent off just 21 seconds following the restart, making it the quickest-ever second-half red card in a Nations League match, while this was Wales’ first win after falling behind since November 2024 against Iceland (4-1).

While Bellamy was pleased with the three points, he took more pride in Wales’ display at Cardiff City Stadium.

“Really pleasing. The performance was more important, to look like us,” Bellamy told BBC Match of the Day Wales.

“We’ve worked hard to get to Nations League A and we know the teams are littered and loaded with good players.

“I know we’ve got a lot of players out, but we still have to be us. So that was nice and was pleasing.

Our first ever victory in #NationsLeague League A  pic.twitter.com/5c4T87Sjaq

“The last few days in training, we had an identity meeting. I have to give credit to the players, they’ve been brilliant.

“What do we want to do? Do we want to sit deep and play on counter-attacks or do we want to be aggressive and be on the front foot and keep the ball when we have it?

“That’s really it. I think that’s us. We do have to punch above our weight, but let’s give it a right go. That’s always been brought to me as a Welsh person growing up.”

Norway struggled after going a man down, though Erling Haaland uncharacteristically missed a great chance at 2-1.

The visitors would have been optimistic after Martin Odegaard, who has assisted 14 goals in his last 15 matches for Norway, was declared fit, but Heggem’s dismissal proved too much to come back from.

Stale Solbakken told TV 2 Play: “I think we were too careful in the first half. Far too much back-and-forth football.”

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