Wales faced Russia in Group B of Euro 2016 on Monday, with the Welsh side running away with the tie to book their place in the Last 16.
Both sides were desperate to get a result from their final Group Stage match as each sought to guarantee progress into the Last 16 of the tournament.
The game got off to a fast start as Gareth Bale managed a shot after just one minute of action. Wales were looking confident in possession and Bale and Aaron Ramsey asked several questions of the Russian defence.
Then, with 10 minutes gone, Ramey opened the scoring. The midfielder was played in by a great ball by Joe Allen, which Ramey controlled before cooling chipping over the advancing Igor Akinfeev.
Wales doubled their lead on the 19 minute mark as Bale brilliantly played in Neil Taylor. The defender failed to poke home his initial effort, but did well to stab in a rebound before he could be closed down.
Russia almost got their way back into the match in the 27th minute as Artem Dzyuba latched onto a long ball, but he couldn’t beat Welsh goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey.
Bale came close to setting up a third for rampant Welsh as powered down the left wing, beating a couple of defenders as he set up Sam Vokes, who couldn’t beat Akinfeev on the half-hour mark.
Bale was on the attack yet again in the 40th minute as he drove at the Russia defence, only for his shot to be comfortably saved. It proved the lost meaningful chance of the half.
The second-half began with another marauding Bale run and another comfortable save for Akinfeev, before the Welshman had yet another run at the Russian defence around the hour mark.
Bale finally got his goal in the 67 minute has the ball was poked through by Ramsey for the Real Madrid star to toe-poke home.
The pace of the game dropped off noticeably following the third goal, with a speculative Russian free kick from range not troubling Hennessey in the 79th minute.
Ramsey had a shot deflected out for a corner after 88 minutes, and it proved the final meaningful action of the game as the score read 3-0 at the final whistle.
