Gareth Bale was present but not risked for a match in which Wales snatched a late winner through Ben Woodburn, a deserved outcome after their constant second-half pressure that improved Ryan Giggs’s still underwhelming record.
Having taken over a year on Friday, Giggs’s 10th match in charge ended as a fourth victory to go with five defeats and a draw. Before Sunday’s opening Euro 2020 qualifier against Slovakia the manager protected all his A-listers. This meant no Bale, Aaron Ramsey, Joe Allen, Ben Davies or first-choice goalkeeper, Wayne Hennessey.
Instead there was a chance for the fringe members to push a claim with Newcastle United’s Paul Dummett the sole, regular Premier League performer – the Leicester goalkeeper Danny Ward is a reserve along with Liverpool’s Woodburn.
Dennis Lawrence’s Trinidad & Tobago came into the contest having lost their last two games – by 1-0 score-lines to Iran and Thailand – and in Sheldon Bateau of Norway’s Sarpsborg had a solitary Europe-based player.
Lawrence, a former Wrexham player of five years, watched as Wales started brightly. Woodburn, the striker in Giggs’s 4-2-3-1, slipped a ball into Ryan Hedges and his dink was reached by Tyler Roberts though the Trinidad goalkeeper, Marvin Phillip, was not troubled.
