Late drama and justice featured in a breathless finish to this riveting encounter. When Neco Williams challenged Yunus Akgun and Connor Roberts tackled Kerem Akturkoglu in the Wales area, each seemed clean yet the referee, Juan Martínez Munuera, awarded a penalty.
It was unclear for which player’s (apparent) misdemeanour and the VAR did not intervene but when Akturkoglu stepped up his spot kick shaved Karl Darlow’s left post and missed, which felt correct.
As the Wales No 1 said: “I thought the challenge was fair [for the penalty]. With the way we defended and the determination we showed, I thought we deserved a point.
“We showed we are hard to beat. That speaks a lot for the commitment and effort the lads put in.”
So after Craig Bellamy spoke of a trip to Turkey being a marker regarding Wales’s World Cup qualification campaign, departing with a draw is a fillip.
His men were unbeaten in four Nations League games under him and in the cauldron of Kayseri’s RHG Enertürk Enerji Stadium showed a hunger for a fifth. Sorba Thomas claimed an early corner. Darlow took the ball, and then Baris Alper Yilmaz, as the No 11 challenged for a high delivery near the Welsh goal. Vincenzo Montella’s players wanted a penalty but the referee, rightly, was not interested.
They did, though, exert a control that pleased the raucous crowd. Patient play manoeuvered Arda Guler, the Real Madrid wunderkind, into position down the right, he chipped over, Joe Rodon headed away but only to Merih Demiral, who blasted over.
Any possession Wales enjoyed petered out almost instantly, as when Thomas marauded down the left and lost the ball. Akturkoglu, the home No 7, was allowed two sighters by the passive Wales midfield: each missed and served as a warning. So, too, a Hakan Calhanoglu corner from the left, plus interplay between Guler and Calhanoglu that featured the latter crossing and Darlow collecting.
Closer was a slicing Mert Muldur delivery that slid before Darlow and needed Roberts’s sliding intervention. Worse was Josh Sheehan ceding possession as Wales tried to move out from the back in a scare that required Turkey indecision and Calhanoglu’s unsuccessful long-range effort to allow the escape.
Hemmed in, Wales had to be lethal with any chance. So when Thomas raced along the left he rued landing the ball behind Johnson, who, running over from the right, was in plum position to score.
One of Turkey’s more dangerous attempts featured Akgun unloading in Wales’s area and Darlow, advancing, repelling with his legs. Another had Ben Davies scrambling as Akturkoglu threatened to nip in behind before a Mark Harris and Rodon head clash caused a delay and left Harris with a shiner over his right eye and Rodon bandaged.
Wales went mighty close when Harry Wilson, fed by Harris, shot from distance and hit the right post, the following-up Johnson unlucky that the rebound evaded him.
To try to stymie the Turkish flow Bellamy called on the pace of Dan James, for Harris, while Montella replaced his captain, Calhanoglu, with Ismail Yuksek for the second half.
A Thomas corner was bright but Turkey were soon in familiar ball-hogging mode, a flighted pass chested by Yilmaz as he looked to get in behind before Guler took over but failed to prosper.
Wales could not put their foot on the ball and slow this Nations League encounter, which meant they were living dangerously. Akgun, striding forward and shooting barely wide, gave them another fright. Turkey could fill a compendium of these. Yilmaz, before being taken off, claimed a free-kick and the bearded Orkun Kokcu fired too high. If Turkey had discovered ruthlessness – Enes Unal missed an open goal – Wales would have been downed.
After the excitement of the penalty that should not have been, with a single Group B4 match remaining Turkey lead with 11 points. Wales, on nine, host Iceland, who have seven, on Tuesday, so all is to play for.
