By Kevin Ratcliffe Former Wales and Everton captain

There are plenty of lessons to be learnt from Wales' disappointing 1-0 defeat to the Republic of Ireland in Croke Park.

Wales paid the penalty for a poor first half in Dublin

But learning is still what it's all about for Wales.

We are in a transitional period, we are learning, and we are looking to play the game in the right way.

What Wales have to do is start creating chances, getting the ball into the box and playing further up the field.

The first half in Dublin was very poor, but Craig Bellamy will be disappointed not to have put away a great chance - those are the sort of opportunities you just have to seize in international football.

Things went a lot better in the second half and John Toshack's side put together some extremely good football.

But Wales still failed to really hurt the Irish or carve out clear-cut chances.

One thing that I hope is taken note of is who the important players are for us.

606: DEBATE Poor tactics and poor finishing yet again contribute to Wales' downfall RE

Simon Davies was very effective early in the second half, he was on the ball a lot and proved extremely influential.

But when we changed our format and put him out on the right-hand side he faded from view.

For Wales to progress, they have to have their best players involved as much as possible.