Paul Jones made vital saves for Wales

The Everton midfielder unleashed a speculative 30-yard drive which dipped under the body of Ukraine keeper Olexander Shovkovskyi.

But Wales, who still need a miracle to qualify from Group Five, were thankful that Ukraine's prolific goalscorer Adriy Shevchenko uncharacteristically missed two golden opportunities to steal a win in injury time.

The visitors started with John Hartson playing as the lone striker with Nathan Blake and Ryan Giggs breaking down the flanks and new-boy Simon Davies making late runs from centre midfield.

And it was Blake, scorer against Poland, who produced Wales' first effort on goal after four minutes.

Ukraine then forced a fine save from Paul Jones on six minutes when a loose pass in midfield from Gary Speed let in Gennadiy Zubov, who fed Anatoliy Tymoschuk.

The winger then lashed a fine right-footer that the Southampton keeper did well to turn away.

But then on 26 minutes Hartson missed possibly the best chance of the match.

Giggs fed Darren Barnard down the left wing, who then delivered a perfect cross to the far post only for the unmarked Hartson to head wide from just six yards after mistiming his jump.

The big Coventry centre forward, enjoying possible his best game for Wales, then had a claim for a penalty turned down.

Gary Speed launched a fine ball forward and Hartson's excellent ball sent Davies scampering down the right.

His cross was aimed at Hartson coming in on the far post but he was clearly pulled back by Mykhaylo Starostyak. The referee gave nothing to Wales' fury.

The play sped to the other end and Zubov hit the bar from outside the box, and as the ball dropped, Delaney hooked it off the line.

Jones picked up the ball and the official awarded a freekick, which eventually came to nothing, for handling a back pass.

Wales were post's width away from going ahead as Giggs fired a curling 20-yard free kick which gave the keeper no chance.

Ryan Giggs could have scored late on

But two minutes from the break, Ukraine took the lead.

Gennadiy Zubov played a one-two with Andriy Vorovyey and his fierce low drive from a tight angle on the right flew into the bottom left-hand corner.

Wales came out for the second half determined to claw their way back into the game, and enjoyed periods of sustained pressure.

But they were again indebted to Jones as he produced a fine one-handed save that pushed a Vorobey effort onto his left-hand post.

And then on 73 minutes, Pembridge struck for Wales and gave them real hope of recording their first win of the Group Five qualifying campaign.

Hartson then made room for himself just inside the penalty box and forced the keeper to make a decent save.

With 90 minutes on the clock, both teams had openings to grab the three points.

Firstly, Giggs forced a fine save from Shovkovski after exchanging passes with Speed.

And then Shevchenko missed two relatively easy chances.

Paul Jones must be credited for a fine save from the AC Milan man's first effort, but then the striker failed to connect properly with his head from five yards out to let Wales off the hook.

The result leaves Wales in fourth place in the group with five points, while Ukraine are second on 10 points, a point behind Belarus, who were to play Norway later on Wednesday.

Group leaders Poland also dropped points after a 1-1 draw with Armenia in a Yerevan earlier, but remained on top of the group on 17 points.

Teams:

Ukraine: Shovkovsky, Starostyak, Parfyonov, Holovko, Vashchyuk, Dmitrulin, Shevchenko, Tymoshchyuk, Zubov, Vorobei, Rebrov.
Subs: Levitsky, Nesmachny, Yashkin, Luzhny, Spivak, Kardash, Fedorov.

Wales: P Jones, Delaney, Page, Melville, Barnard, Pembridge, Davies, Speed (capt), Giggs, Hartson, Blake.
Subs: Ward, Symons, Carl Robinson, Iwan Roberts, Koumas, Jenkins, Matthew Jones.

Referee: Joaquim Gomes (Portugal)