Gareth Bale says Wales need to learn the "dark arts" of the game after conceding deep into injury-time against Netherlands.
The Red Dragons looked to have earned a point as Rhys Norrington-Davies headed home his first international goal in the 92nd minute after Teun Koopmeiners fired Louis van Gaal's men ahead early on in the second-half. But Wout Weghorst headed beyond Adam Davies at the death to earn the visitors all three points in the Nations League contest at Cardiff City Stadium.
In the build-up to Netherlands' dramatic winner, substitute Frenkie de Jong charged beyond Chris Mepham and Harry Wilson before teeing up Tyrell Malacia who crossed for Weghorst to bag the winner. And Bale, along with boss Rob Page, believes a foul should have been committed to prevent the late winner.
READ MORE: Wales 1-2 Netherlands: Weghorst scores dramatic injury-time winner in Nations League contest
"It was a difficult game. We didn't have our full-strength squad," he told Sgorio. "The boys who came in worked very hard to get the equaliser then to concede so early after that was gutting, but it's something we have to learn, maybe the dark arts of taking him down, we need to learn from this.
"They're a world-class team and we're in this A league now because we deserve to be testing ourselves against the best. I think if you're the tier below you get away with that at the end. You play the top teams, you don't do the things you need to do and you get punished.
"It's hard to take but it's something we need to learn from, we're still a young team we have to learn from stuff like that and take it forward."
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Defeat was Wales' first at home under Page and their first at Cardiff City Stadium since Denmark secured a 2-1 win over Ryan Giggs' side in November 2018. Kieffer Moore, Neco Williams, Joe Allen and Aaron Ramsey were all rested following Sunday's World Cup play-off final win over Ukraine while Wayne Hennessey missed out due to injury.
After the match, Page confirmed Hennessey was due to start, with his replacement Danny Ward being forced off at half-time with an injury of his own while Joe Morrell was also replaced due to a knee issue. And Page says the emphasis placed on his side's triumph over Ukraine played a pivotal impact in their defeats to Poland and Netherlands.
"We had a plan in place. I wanted to give Gareth some minutes and we were able to do that," said the head coach. "This game, and the Poland game, have been influenced by the final on Sunday. We've got two or three knocks but we have to get on with it. We haven't got the luxury of changing all eleven players like Holland did tonight.”
Wales return to action against Belgium on Saturday night. Kick-off in Cardiff is at 7:45pm.
