A CORNER from the right with three minutes gone in the wind and rain at the Cardiff Arms Park and a goalkeeper as green at this level as the shirts of his teammates. Vinnie Jones must have thought that somebody up there liked him. The ball floated in and Jones did more than enough to unsettle Keith Branagan and in popped Gary Speed for the goal.

Fortunately the Scottish referee saw through the trickery and Branagan was spared the embarrassment of conceding a goal within 90 seconds of starting his first senior international match.

"It would have been tough, mentally, after that because I got bundled over and the bail went in the net and I was wondering if the ref is going to give that or not. Fortunately he was right there and saw what happened because it would have been terrible for me if it had stood."

While Branagan was just starting his international adventure, Paul McGrath was resuming his, making his 83rd appearance and he admitted, very pleased indeed to be back. "It was a big test for me after being missing for such a long time. It was good just to mingle with the lads again and them not scoring was a bonus because Sparky is a formidable opponent and to keep him and John Hartson out was great."

McGrath paid tribute to the men who played either side of him but singled out Kenny Cunningham for particular praise, remarking that the way the Wimbledon player talks to those around him, always looking to organise things and alerting others to impending danger marks him out as a potentially great defender of the future.

For Alan McLoughlin, meanwhile, there was satisfaction personally with a fine first half display as well as a sense that the team had done exactly what was asked of them by their manager.

"I think what he asked us to do was exactly what you saw out there. Pass the ball around, create openings and try to create chances. That's what we did and it's just a pity that we didn't take the chances when we made them.

"Overall I'm very happy and I'm sure that everyone else that played tonight is. They were poor conditions but everybody has gone home entertained and any of the lads who have come in for this game have done well. Nobody has a divine right to play in the side, Mick has made that clear to us regularly so tonight was important for a lot of people, ahead of the World Cup games.

Mark Crossley celebrated a clean sheet on his debut and admitted: "I couldn't have asked for a better start."

Welsh legend Neville Southall chose to miss the match and the 27-year-old Crossley showed Wales boss Bobby Gould that he has an experienced replacement on hand whenever 38-year-old Southall decides to retire from international football.