Wales victory strengthens their position in World Cup qualifiers

Victories across the various European groups see a tightening between the leading teams

Wales' Hal Robson-Kanu celebrates scoring their first goal against Moldova

Tuesday night’s World Cup qualifiers in the European groups saw Wales make it two wins from two  games over the current round of matches, beating Moldova to reinforce their chances of progressing from Group D. They had to wait until late on in their away fixture to register their first goal, scored by the talismanic Hal Robson-Kanu, before Aaron Ramsay made the result safe with a second goal in injury time.

Elsewhere in the group, leaders Serbia defeated the Republic of Ireland 1-0 in Dublin, reinforcing their position as first place in the group. Austria and Georgia ground out a 1-1 draw in Vienna. As it stands, Wales appears to be in the box seat for qualifying for the play-offs as runners-up in the group.

In Group G, Spain maintained their position at the top of the table with an 8-0 away victory over minnows Liechtenstein; Chelsea’s Alvaro Morata scored two goals alongside Premier League colleague David Silva of Manchester United, who notched one goal. Italy shaded Israel by 1-0 to stay in second position.

Group I saw a narrowing of the position at the top, as leaders Croatia slumped to a 1-0 defeat to Turkey, who moved into third position. Elsewhere, Iceland’s 2-0 victory over Ukraine pushed them onto the same points total as Croatia, 16.