Monmouth Town FC’s packed, raucous clubhouse on the banks of the muddy River Monnow fell momentarily silent as Wales’s painful loss to a reinvigorated Iran sunk in on Friday. But thoughts – and perhaps a whole nation’s hopes – soon turned to the first clash between England and Wales in a World Cup finals.
The manager of the tight-knit Welsh regional league club, Steve Davies, 50, is not a man for giving up. He believes in resilience, family and community.