"Losing unthinkable", admits Wales skipper Collins

A depleted and inexperienced Welsh squad face Liechtenstein tonight at the Rheinpark Stadium, with stand-in skipper James Collins looking to halt a run of three successive qualifying defeats.

The tiny ground, surrounded by the snow-capped Swiss Alps, could stage the worst night in Wales' history should a team rated 151st in the world come up trumps.

But that is something that Collins’ isn’t thinking about. He said: “There’s a bit of senior leadership needed now, after what happened in Finland. Not that I can claim to have been above criticism.

'It was a bad day for me as well as the team. But now we want to finish off this group strongly and look forward to the next qualifying campaign.

'It is a big game for us, we need a win. We have got to feel under pressure now because everyone was bitterly disappointed with the way we played and the result.

'We must put things right that were not good on Saturday when we lost in Helsinki.'

Lietchenstein’s local hero, St Gallen striker Mario Frick, one of the few full-time professionals in the Lietchtenstein squad, is likely to return from suspension and he has his sights firmly set on adding the Wales’ woes.

He said: 'If we do beat Wales, it will be the best win in our nation's history. The best at the moment was when we beat Iceland, but Wales are bigger than Iceland.

“It is a very difficult match for us because we are also missing a lot of players. I was suspended against Azerbaijan along with some others and it was a really bad result for us.

'We are aware that Wales are also suffering from a loss of players and that their captain Craig Bellamy is not here. We will have a stronger team on Wednesday so maybe it will give us the chance to take advantage
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'We also understand there is pressure on the Wales coach (John Toshack) and maybe that is also something that could work in our favour.

'We have produced a good draw at home to Finland this season, and that has given us confidence.'

Wales go into the tie without nine players, including Danny Gabbidon (calf), strike duo Rob Earnshaw (calf) and David Cotterill (personal reasons), midfielders Jack Collison (calf), Joe Ledley (hip) and Brian Stock (ankle).

Under-21 captain, Shaun McDonald and Leicester City midfielder Andy King, are both on standby, to add to their single caps, after being drafted in over the weekend.