Wasteful Wales held by South Korea

Wales failed to make the most of their chances as they were held to a 1-1 draw by South Korea in a friendly in Spain.

Rhian Wilkinson’s side looked set to claim their first victory of the year when Sophie Ingle gave them an early lead, while they also hit the post twice, but Korea turned the tables in the second half and Kim Min-ji levelled.

Ingle won the corner that led to the opening goal in the sixth minute with a shot that was acrobatically pushed over the bar by Kim Min-jung.

The keeper got nowhere near the corner, though, as Ingle headed in Lily Woodham’s delivery from under the bar.

Ingle nearly engineered a repeat a few minutes later, while Hannah Cain should have made it two but shot wide and Ingle could not apply the finishing touch when the ball was sent back in following another corner.

Wales might have conceded in the 20th minute but Ji So-yun dwelt on the ball after being played through and Gemma Evans got back to block the shot.

Most of the threat in Malaga continued to come from Wales, though, and after Mared Griffiths had hit the post with a shot across goal, Rhiannon Roberts had the ball in the net but Ingle was penalised for a foul on the keeper.

They came very close again three minutes after the break when Elise Hughes, who had come on for Cain for the second half, was played in on the left and struck her shot against the base of the near post.

But Korea improved markedly from there and Olivia Clark was called upon in the 51st minute to deny Choi Yoo-jung after sloppy play in defence.

The equaliser arrived in the 68th minute, with Jang Sel-gi’s deep cross finding an unmarked Kim, who headed beyond Clark, while Korea might have scored a quick second but Shin Na-yeong’s shot was deflected behind.