France make sure Fishlock's moment of joy is short-lived

Given that they were playing next door to a branch of Ikea it could be tempting to say Wales collapsed in the manner of badly assembled flat pack furniture. But that would be very wrong.

- Louise Taylor

An admittedly emphatic scoreline that leaves France top of Group D and well on course for the quarterfinals does not tell the whole story of a much improved Welsh performance on a night when Jess Fishlock scored a historic goal.

Granted only highly improbable mathematics dictate that their tournament exit is not quite rubber-stamped but Rhian Wilkinson’s players made Laurent Bonadei’s gifted side work hard for an ultimately convincing win.

Wales drew up at the St Gallen Arena in a new team bus with a fresh driver at the wheel. Wilkinson’s squad were badly shaken when their original coach was involved in a collision with a car en route to a training session here on Tuesday afternoon but her subsequent switch to a back four amid a quartet of personnel changes were driven primarily by tactical considerations.

In contrast Bonadei’s decision to rotate so heavily that the France starting XI contained only four survivors of last Saturday’s statement 2-1 win against England was seemingly driven by a desire to keep his stars well rested.