Wales boss Gemma Grainger reflects on impressive draw against Denmark

After starting her reign with a 3-0 defeat to Canada, Grainger’s side bounced back as they stood firm to hold Denmark to a 1-1 draw on Tuesday evening.

A beautifully-worked goal from Jess Fishlock was enough to ensure that Wales left the Cardiff City Stadium with a thoroughly deserved result, though more importantly, invaluable foundations to build upon in preparation for the World Cup qualifiers.

Rightly so, the Wales head coach was in positive spirits post-match.

“I think for me, the focus is about getting the best out of the players and playing to their strengths, and I think you are seeing that,” began Grainger.

“These 10 days were about us as a group and has been a really positive time.

“I want to get these girls doing what they do well and hopefully we are seeing that.”

Now that the first batch of international friendlies are over, which will see the playing squad return to their club sides, the former England assistant is firmly looking ahead to the future.

“We’ve got so many options,” Grainger continued.

“We want to find out more in the June camp, but everything is focused on the qualifiers starting in September.

“We wanted to build from the performance on Friday (against Canada) and we have definitely done that. The girls have taken things on board really well.

“We scored a fantastic team goal and the celebration showed how much it meant to the team.

To come back from a losing position against a team like Denmark requires a certain calibre of inner steel- and Grainger evidently recognises that.

“I was pleased we came from 1-0 down. We showed resilince,” said Grainger.

“A lot of the conversations I had with the younger layers are to learn what they can from our senior players.

“We have some world-class senior players in this team and for the younger players, if I were them, my advice to them would be to learn as much as they can because that will be them in a few years time.

“It will be their job to do the same for the next generation coming through and the more we use that as a model, the more successful the team will be.”

(Featured Image: Lewis Mitchell)