Wales had to dig deep to avoid embarrassment in Kazakhstan as they held on for a narrow win that moved them to the top of their World Cup qualifying group.
Kieffer Moore gave the initially dominant visitors a first-half lead on his 50th international appearance, sliding in on the rebound after Liam Cullen’s header from a Harry Wilson free-kick had been saved.
However, Wales lost their grip on the game and Kazakhstan, ranked 114th in the world, were agonisingly close to equalising early in the second half when Galymzhan Kenzhebek’s curling 20-yard shot was tipped on to the crossbar by Karl Darlow.
With a raucous home crowd at Astana Arena sensing a shift in momentum, Kazakhstan grew in confidence and looked more than capable of causing a shock as Dastan Satpaev – the 17-year-old forward who will join Chelsea next year – forced Darlow into another save.
Craig Bellamy’s side had chances to put the result beyond doubt but their fired-up opponents continued to press for a leveller and what would have been a significant result for Kazakh football.
With the final kick of the game, Serikzhan Muzhikov’s curling set-piece flicked the top of the bar and Wales clung on for victory.
Their subdued celebrations at the final whistle gave an idea of what they made of their indifferent performance but, most importantly, the result keeps alive their hopes of qualifying automatically for the 2026 World Cup.
Wales’ stay at the summit of Group J is likely to be short-lived as North Macedonia, the team they leapfrogged, are at home to the group’s bottom seeds Liechtenstein on Tuesday.
Third-place Belgium are six points behind Wales but, with three games in hand, they will be expected to close that gap when they face Liechtenstein later on Thursday.
Bellamy’s men host Belgium in October. To have a realistic chance of qualifying automatically as group winners, they need to win their three remaining games and hope the Belgians slip up more than once, not only in Cardiff.
Failing that, Wales will enter the play-offs in March, the same route they took to qualifying for the 2022 World Cup – their first appearance at the finals stage for 64 years.
