'Not the performances to help us make history' - Rhian Wilkinson

Philip Marsh
BBC Sport Wales in Grodzisk Wielkopolski, Poland

Wales surrendered top spot in Group B4 of their Euro 2025 qualification campaign as they conceded in the final minute to draw 2-2 with Ukraine in Poland.

After a fast start Wales were caught on the break, and Yana Kalinina was left with a tap-in to give Ukraine the lead after a superb dummy by Roksolana Kravchuk.

Just as Ukraine looked to have survived all Wales could throw at them, Kayleigh Barton was dragged down in the 18-yard box before she dusted herself off and rifled the resulting penalty into the roof of the net.

Minutes later Jess Fishlock produced a moment of magic to score a thunderous 25-yard strike into the top corner to give Wales the lead for the first time.

Ukraine threw everything at Wales in the closing stages, and in the last of the seven minutes added on they were rewarded for their bravery, substitute Nicole Kozlova's thumping header beating Olivia Clark.

Wales drop to second in the group, one point behind Croatia who they play next, with the only consolation for Rhian Wilkinson's side being that they are now guaranteed a play-off place after Kosovo's defeat.

Wilkinson made four changes from last Friday's 1-1 draw against the same opposition, including handing Lois Joel a first start.

Sophie Ingle, who has predominantly played in midfield for her country under Gemma Grainger and Rhian Wilkinson, was pushed back into central defence in place of Rhiannon Roberts, whose error gifted Ukraine their goal in last week's contest.

Carrie Jones, Friday's goal-scorer Kayleigh Barton and Rachel Rowe were also recalled to the starting line-up, rewarded for their impact at Parc y Scarlets.

FAW

Ukraine managed just three shots on target in two games against Wales, but scored all three efforts

Wilkinson said in Monday's news conference that she had been generally disappointed with first-half performances since she took charge, but she would have been pleased with how the game started.

Wales were almost ahead in the first minute when Gemma Evans' long ball played through Rachel Rowe, but Darya Keliushyk was equal to the effort.

The chances came thick and fast, with three corners in the opening stages all causing the Ukrainian defence problems.

The best chance from those set pieces fell to Kayleigh Barton, who was left completely unmarked at the front post, but could not get her header on target from 10 yards out.

Barton almost made amends after 15 minutes, when she got in behind the Ukraine defence and chipped the ball over Keliushyk, but Lyubov Shmatko got back to stop the ball on the goal-line and clear.

Despite dominating the game, it was Ukraine who took the lead just as they had done last week.

The Welsh defence failed to pick up the run of Olha Ovdiychuk, and her low ball across the box was dummied superbly by Roksolana Kravchuk which left Yana Kalinina with a tap-in.

The second half started much like the first half, with Wales fully in control of the game and Ukraine boxed into their own half.

Ceri Holland almost scored an accidental equaliser two minutes after the restart, as Keliushyk was forced to tip her goal-bound cross on to the top of the crossbar and behind for a corner.

If the match appeared to be following a similar pattern to Friday’s game, things got even more alike when Wales were awarded a penalty as Barton bundled to the ground.

And as she did at Parc y Scarlets, Barton scored the resulting spot-kick, thumping the ball down the middle.

FAW

Jess Fishlock has scored four goals in the four games of this qualification campaign

The sense of deja vu was ended in style a few minutes later, when Fishlock picked up a Ukraine clearance 25 yards from goal and unleashed an unstoppable strike into the top corner.

The strike moves Fishlock to within one of Helen Ward's all-time Welsh record of 44 goals.

Ukraine, who had barely strung a pass together in the second half, were forced to be more adventurous in the closing stages, and the seven minutes of injury time added on was met with a few gasps from those in the Welsh dugout.

Wales were fortunate to not concede when Gemma Evans' defensive header crashed back off her own post, but in the final minute of the game Ukraine found the equaliser they were so desperately chasing.

The yellow shirts flooded forward, and from a whipped-in cross substitute Nicole Kozlova stooped down at the back post to place a thumping header into the top of the net.

Much like in the first of these two matches, Wales will leave with a sense of 'what if', having wasted a number of chances to put the game to bed.

Wales manager Rhian Wilkinson told BBC Radio Wales: "If you lose [a lead] in the last seconds of a game, it's always going to feel like a loss.

"It was a tough camp for us, an important camp for us, because as I said to the team, they are not the [type of] performances that are going to help us make history. We know that.

"It's not the window we wanted at all. We came here for six points and we leave with two. But maybe it's the one we needed because it's not good enough.

"I think a big positive is that we went behind in both games and we came back. That's something about [the squad's] character which I like. But [when] we are 2-1 up in the last seconds of a game we can't [concede].

"The players need to go away on holiday, unwind, recharge and come back in ready to work because we have another very important window to come."