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Wales earned a narrow 1-0 win against international minnows Liechtenstein to sustain their aspirations of World Cup finals qualification.

Wales' James claimed his first international strike for the national team from near the goal after the home side's mix of professionals, office workers and students had held out for more than 60 minutes. The scorer wheeled away in delight with his obvious relief mirrored by the 3,000 Welsh followers filling most sections of the venue in Vaduz.

Shortly after, however, Jordan James was cautioned and a further yellow for Ethan Ampadu resulted in the pair are unavailable for the upcoming crunch tie with their next opponents through disciplinary issues.

The Wales' ground contest is a encounter Wales need to win to overtake their rivals and obtain a more favourable position in the final round in March.

Craig Bellamy had an unusual vantage point from the dugout, Bellamy undertaking a sideline suspension after being shown a second yellow card in the qualifiers earlier.

Bellamy’s assistant Piet Cremers stood in in the coaching zone and several key players – James, Ampadu, Joe Rodon, Neco Williams – were at risk of suspension from sitting out the last group game. Both James and Ampadu came unstuck in moments that could really hurt their team.

Their opponents, situated 206 out of 210 teams in international football, had been goalless in their previous six losses and allowed twenty-three times at an rate of nearly four per game.

Wales unsurprisingly controlled the ball as their hosts adopted a deep defensive line and packed their defence.

Liechtenstein's net saw little action until Broadhead chasing down forced an error and James saw his effort from the edge of the box saved by Benjamin Büchel.

A similar move created another chance, James locating his teammate now with a accurate pass behind the defence.

Broadhead’s superb control beat the keeper but the forward failed to finish from a narrow position.

Wales thought they had taken the lead after the opening period when James nodded a lofted Sorba Thomas set-piece back into a packed penalty box.

The Liechtenstein keeper was flustered by Dylan Lawlor and Rodon, and his poor clearance reached Broadhead who drove home emphatically. But Welsh elation were curtailed when the official was instructed to the pitchside monitor and ruled that a player of the Wales defenders was in an offside from Jordan's header.

Wales raised the tempo after the interval and Thomas delivered a centering pass to the back post which the winger hit the crossbar.

Williams then directed his header off target from inside the six-yard box as it began to look like a difficult match for Wales.

However, with the match having reached its final half-hour, Williams delivered a shrewd through ball for his teammate to get in behind the home defence.

James beat Büchel with a superb cross along the six-yard box, and his namesake Jordan had the easy task of relieving Wales' anxiety.