Elise Hughes savoured the “amazing feeling” of scoring a dramatic late equaliser as Cymru battled to a crucial 2-2 draw against Czechia in World Cup qualifying on Tuesday night.
With Cymru trailing 2-1 in the closing stages in Uherské Hradiště, Hughes climbed highest in the box to meet Gemma Evans’ inviting cross, powering a superb header beyond the goalkeeper to snatch a point for the visitors at the death.
The hosts had taken an early lead after just 16 minutes when Eva Bartoňová nodded home from close range. Cymru responded well, and midway through the first half Hannah Cain restored parity with her second goal in as many games, calmly sweeping the ball home to bring her side back into contention.
Czechia regained the advantage after the break as Jana Žufanková rose at the far post to head in, leaving Cymru with an uphill task once more. While they struggled to find their usual rhythm, their perseverance was rewarded deep into stoppage time when substitute Hughes delivered the decisive moment, securing a hard-earned and potentially vital point to open Cymru’s qualifying campaign.
“It’s an amazing feeling to score for Wales and it’s honestly the best feeling I’ve had,” Hughes said post-match. “The more I can do that, the better it is for the team.
“There’d been a few crosses just a few minutes before the goal, and they were all going towards the back. In my head, I thought maybe one of them is going to go towards the front, and as soon as Gem [Gemma Evans] looked up, I could see she was going to put it in, so I made the front-post run, hoping the keeper would come out so I could get a touch on it. Thankfully she did and I’m happy with that.
“I’m just glad we got something on the board and that I could contribute to that. We need to put things right and hopefully we can get three points in the next game.
“It could be a crucial point. We’ll never know until the end of the campaign, but we know we can’t come away and lose games in this group. We knew if we weren’t going to win tonight, we had to get a draw – and we did that. It shows a good team when you don’t play at your best but still manage to come away with something at the end.”
She added: “The fans were great this evening. As soon as you hear the anthem, you know they are there. They came in their numbers again and were so grateful to have them. Hopefully, we can give them a better result on Saturday.
“Full focus now turns to Montenegro. We can’t get this game back now – what’s done is done. We’ve got to take the positives out of it, the learnings out of it, take the point, go home and re-group once again.”
