Pinatar Cup: Wales 1-0 Philippines - Kayleigh Green penalty secures win

This was the first ever meeting between Wales and the Philippines' women's football teams

Wales got off to a winning start in the 2023 Pinatar Cup, beating an organised Philippines thanks to Kayleigh Green's first-half penalty.

Gemma Grainger's side dominated proceedings in south-east Spain, but were prevented from creating clear-cut chances by the Philippines defence.

But Wales eventually found the opening goal with the last kick of the first half when Green finished from 12 yards.

Ceri Holland almost added a second but was denied by an excellent diving save.

• Reaction & relive action as it happened

Wales enjoyed almost constant possession for the opening 15 minutes without testing Olivia McDaniel in the Philippines goal.

They did have a strong shout for a penalty turned down after eight minutes when Angharad James appeared to have her ankles clipped on the edge of the area by Jessika Cowart.

The game's first big chance fell to Rachel Rowe after 17 minutes.

Holland collected a floated back-post cross and pulled the ball back into the box, a wicked deflection off Sofia Harrison saw the ball fall to Rowe two yards out but McDaniel was off her line quickly to save.

The game looked to be going into the break all square before Wales were awarded a late penalty.

Rowe's through ball down the right-hand side was collected by Holland. After she stopped inside the area, the ball dropped to Rhiannon Roberts, who was hacked down by Dominique Randle.

Green stepped up to take the penalty and comfortably sent McDaniel the wrong way, finishing low to the goalkeeper's right.

Philippines head coach Alen Stajcic made two changes at the break, bringing on Eva Madarang and Katrina Guillou, and the pair almost made an immediate impact.

Madarang's cross was nodded on by Tahnai Annis and fell kindly to Guillou who spun nicely before firing a half-volley on goal, but it was straight at debutant Safia Middleton-Patel.

That was a rare chance for Philippines before Wales' dominance continued.

Roberts' low cross across the face of goal only needed a touch but evaded the on-rushing Green and Carrie Jones at the far post.

After 65 minutes there was a welcome return to the national team for Leicester City's Hannah Cain, who came on for her first Wales appearances in 15 months following knee surgery.

Cain's introduction saw Holland switched to the left wing and from there she made a mazy run before curling an effort towards the far post which was pushed behind by McDaniel.

Wales continued to push for a second and almost found it when Rowe's effort from the edge of the area was deflected just wide of the right upright.

Cain almost scored in spectacular fashion when she unleased a volley towards the near post from an extremely acute angle, but the effort went just the wrong side of the post.

Cain was involved again minutes later, beating Sofia Harrison for pace down the right to burst into the box, but when the opportunity to shoot presented itself , she tried to square to Green and the defence recovered.

Wales were not punished for their missed opportunities though, as Philippines failed to muster a goal-scoring chance in the closing minutes.

Victory moves Wales up to second in the Pinatar Cup table after Iceland's 2-0 win over Scotland earlier on Wednesday.

Iceland's greater margin of victory sees them sit top of the table after the first round of games, and the top two meet next on Saturday at 19:30 GMT.

Wales manager Gemma Grainger told BBC Sport Wales: "We always want to win games and find out more about ourselves.

"Today, being able to play against a team playing at the World Cup this summer, to test ourselves, it was a tough game, they sat in deep and made us work.

"They were really well organised, the players were excellent though in how relentless they were. We probably could have had more goals but the three points is the main thing."