Wales hold Bosnia and Herzegovina at bay

• Points shared after intriguing goalless draw
• Wayne Hennessey's saves frustrate Bosnians in second half
• Gareth Bale and Hal Robson-Kanu nearly win it at the last
• Bosnia and Herzegovina still winless in Group B
• Next games: Wales v Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina v Belgium (13 October)

There were no goals but that was just about the only thing missing as Wales and Bosnia and Herzegovina played out an intriguing, entertaining scoreless draw in their UEFA EURO 2016 qualifier in Cardiff.

There was a vibrant atmosphere, with around 2,300 Bosnian fans among the 30,741 crowd, and an expectant atmosphere too. Captain Ashley Williams's programme notes spoke of Wales's desire to live up to their "golden generation" billing and they so nearly had a second Group B win to celebrate as Gareth Bale drew a brilliant injury-time save from Asmir Begović and Hal Robson-Kanu headed the resulting corner over.

If Chris Coleman's Wales entered the game with a long injury list, headed by midfielders Aaron Ramsey and Joe Allen, Bosnian coach Safet Sušić was forced to select an inexperienced central defensive pairing of Anel Hadžić and Toni Šunjić owing to injuries too. Šunjić made an important early contribution, sliding in to steal Chris Gunter's low cross off the toes of Bale, and the pair had the help of deep-lying midfielder Muhamed Bešić, who handled impressively the role of shadowing the Real Madrid CF star. This was encapsulated by one brilliantly timed second-half tackle just as Bale threatened to accelerate away.

Wales had the best first-half chance when the unmarked Gunter failed to keep his volley down at the far post but that changed on the restart as the visitors, looking to bounce back from their shock home loss to Cyprus last month, stepped up a gear. After denying Haris Medunjanin from point-blank range at the near post, the impressive home goalkeeper Hennessey then had to repel Edin Džeko twice and then foil Miralem Pjanić.

As the game opened up in the closing stages, Williams headed a Bale free-kick over from close range while Pjanić, a threat with his long-range shooting all night, drew a flying stop from Hennessey from another set piece. The drama was not done there: there was still time for a superb Bale strike matched by Begović and substitute Robson-Kanu's near miss but the spoils were shared.