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Wales claimed a hard-fought 1-0 victory against international minnows Liechtenstein to maintain their hopes of World Cup finals progress.

Wales' James claimed his debut goal for Wales from inside the box after the home side's assorted collection of full-time players, office workers and students had resisted for over an hour. James celebrated in joy with his obvious relief mirrored by the three thousand Wales followers filling three sides of the Rheinpark Stadion in the capital.

Moments later, yet, James was cautioned and a further yellow for his midfield partner means the pair are ruled out for Tuesday’s crunch tie with their next opponents through accumulated bookings.

That home venue match is a game Wales have to secure victory in to leapfrog their rivals and secure a more favourable seeding in the qualifying playoffs in March.

Bellamy had an unfamiliar perspective from the sidelines, the Wales manager serving a touchline ban after being shown a second yellow card in the qualifiers last month.

The manager's number two Piet Cremers stood in in the coaching zone and multiple first-teamers – Jordan James, Ethan Ampadu, Joe Rodon, Neco Williams – were one caution from from missing the final qualifier. Two of them were booked in incidents that could really hurt their team.

The home side, situated near the bottom in world football, had been goalless in their previous six losses and let in twenty-three goals at an rate of almost four per game.

Wales as expected controlled the ball as their hosts employed a deep defensive line and got bodies behind the ball.

Their opponent's target saw little action until the forward's pressing caused a mistake and James saw his attempt from the 18-yard line parried by Benjamin Büchel.

That pairing created another chance, James picking out his teammate this time with a well-weighted ball over the top.

The attacker's excellent first touch beat the keeper but the Wrexham striker was unable to score from a narrow position.

The Welsh team thought they had broken the deadlock after 26 minutes when James headed a high Sorba Thomas corner back into a congested six-yard box.

The Liechtenstein keeper was harassed by Lawlor and Joe Rodon, and his feeble attempt reached Broadhead who drove home emphatically. But Welsh celebrations were curtailed when the match official was directed to the VAR screen and determined that one or more of the Wales centre-halves was in an offside position from Jordan's initial touch.

Wales increased the pressure after the interval and Thomas sent in a centering pass to the far post which the winger hit the frame of the goal.

Williams then directed his header off target from inside the six-yard box as it started to seem like a frustrating evening for the Welsh side.

However, with the contest having ticked into its second half, Neco Williams delivered a shrewd pass for his teammate to get in behind the home defence.

James beat the goalkeeper with a superb ball along the six-yard box, and his teammate Jordan had the simple task of easing Wales' anxiety.