Page understands Wales fans´ frustrations after Gibraltar draw

Rob Page acknowledged Wales’ fans are “entitled” to be frustrated after they were held to a shock goalless draw by Gibraltar.

Page was jeered by sections of the travelling supporters at Estadio Do Algarve, where the youthful Dragons were unable to break down the nation ranked 203rd in the world.

Gibraltar had lost each of their 13 previous matches by an aggregate score of 50-0, but managed to hold out for a memorable draw against the Euro 2016 semi-finalists.

Despite registering 16 shots and having an xG of 1.13, the closest Wales came to scoring was when Josh Sheehan’s inswinging corner came back off the crossbar.

It marked another disappointment for Wales, who failed to qualify for Euro 2024 after their play-off defeat to Poland on penalties in March.

Llun y tîm#TogetherStronger pic.twitter.com/U1TTirY7Rv

— Wales(@Cymru) June 6, 2024

Page understands the frustrations of the supporters – some of whom called for him to leave – but insists he remains focused on “the long-term plan” and his side’s return to competitive action in three months’ time.

“They are entitled to their opinion, absolutely. I get it, I completely get it,” Page said when asked about being booed.

“I’m a Welsh supporter as well as the manager, I’m disappointed. But I have to keep saying about the bigger picture, and I’ll probably get criticised for that. It’s the bigger picture, and we’re not going to lose focus on what we’ve done.”

“If you’ve got a business plan and a long-term plan, you can’t be emotional. It’s a draw against a Gibraltar team that we’re really disappointed with, and our focus is on getting the team and squad ready for September to win Nations League games.

“I’ve said to the lads ‘we have to manage expectations’. Just because we did what we did in 2016 and qualified for [another] Euros and a World Cup doesn’t mean that – without some senior players – we’re going to automatically qualify. We’ve got to work really hard to do it.”