Portugal 1-1 Wales: Rachel Rowe stunner earns Wales draw in Portugal

A stunning volley from Rachel Rowe earned Wales a draw against World Cup bound Portugal in Guimaraes.

But Wales levelled as Reading’s Rowe volleyed a clearance from a corner in off the far post to make it 1-1.

Wales captain Sophie Ingle was shown a second yellow card in injury time for a poor tackle on Fatima Pinto, but Gemma Grainger’s side held on for the draw.

Both sides went for a different approach at Estádio D. Afonso Henriques.

Portugal boss Francisco Neto opted to make 11 changes from the team that lost to Japan on Good Friday, while Grainger made no changes from their 4-1 win over Northern Ireland.

At first it appeared that Grainger had made the correct call, as Wales dominated the first 20 minutes in north Portugal, though they did not really test goalkeeper Patricia Morais.

Rowe opted against shooting when free on the edge of the area and Rhiannon Roberts had a long-range effort go marginally over the bar, but that was as close as Wales came early on.

It was against the run of play that Portugal almost opened the scoring when Ana Rute unleashed a brilliant long-range effort and was unfortunate to see it bounce off the bar with Olivia Clark beaten.

That chance gave the hosts momentum, and a route one ball from goalkeeper Morais picked out Encarnacao who had got in behind the Wales defence, only for Gemma Evans to get back brilliantly to block the shot behind for a corner.

Wales ended the half better, and a long ball for Hannah Cain was not dealt with by Morais who had rushed off her line to collect the ball, but luckily for the Portuguese goalkeeper the ball got stuck between her legs after failing to gather it.

Portugal, ranked 10 places higher than Wales, looked far more threatening in the second half and got their reward through Encarnacao.

The forward, who looked the hosts’ most likely source for a goal, cut inside onto her left foot on the edge of the area, getting the better of Esther Morgan, before finishing low into the far corner.

Encarnacao almost had a second on the hour mark with an adventurous bicycle kick from the penalty spot, but her effort was straight at Clark.

Wales’ first shot on target of the second half came on 69 minutes when Jess Fishlock tested Morais from distance, but the Portugal keeper did well to hold onto the effort.

A few minutes later though Morais was beaten, as Rowe connected perfectly with a clearance from an Angharad James corner to volley home the leveller from the edge of the box.

Wales could have been down to 10 players earlier in the contest when Evans bought down Jessica Silva – who was making her 100th appearance for Portugal from the bench.

The forward nipped in as Evans hesitated, and would have been through on goal if not brought down by the Wales defender, but referee Deborah Anex waved away strong appeals.

Wales did finish a player light though as captain Ingle was shown a second yellow card late on for a foul on Pinto, though she may feel hard done by as the previous booking looked to be an innocuous coming together.

Portugal had one last chance to win it when Clark’s poor clearance was picked up by centurion Silva, but her last-minute effort went just the wrong side of the post.

The draw sees Wales’ unbeaten run continue, with two more positive results under their belt ahead of the Nations League later this year.