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Wales secured promotion to the top flight of the Nations League with a win over Finland in Cardiff, with 10 men.
Harry Wilson, Daniel James and Kieffer Moore hit the mark when Wales moved up to League A and virtually guaranteed a place in the 2022 World Cup play-offs.
Teemu Pukki had cut the deficit in half to prepare an anxious half-hour for the Dragons, but Moore’s header with six minutes remaining eased Wales’ nerves.
Finland needed to win to deprive Wales of first place in Group B4, but they were forced to play 10-man for 78 minutes after Jere Uronen dropped Wilson with the striker on goal.
Uronen hadn’t been able to deal with Danny Ward’s long goal kick and Spanish referee Jesús Gil Manzano was quick to brandish his red card.
Wales were unbeaten in 10 competitive matches, a record streak in their history, and had kept seven successive clean sheets in that sequence.
They entered the match as the only team to not concede a goal in all four categories of the Nations League, and a point ahead of opponents who had won four matches in the competition since Helsinki’s 1-0 loss to Wales in the September can opener group.
Gareth Bale wore the armband with 200 career goals remaining and Wales made three changes from the team that beat the Republic of Ireland on Sunday.
Connor Roberts, James Lawrence and Wilson entered with Neco Williams, suspended Ben Davies and David Brooks left.
But interim boss Robert Page, who replaced the absent Ryan Giggs for a third game, persevered with the 3-4-3 system that had broken Sunday before a line-up change brought the winner from Brooks.
Finland were left without captain Tim Sparv and forward Joel Pohjanpalo, who broke an ankle during Sunday’s 2-1 win in Bulgaria.
The visitors looked eager early on with Daniel O’Shaughnessy’s mistake in the fifth minute that allowed Bale a shot from a tight angle that goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky drowned out.
Uronen’s firing tipped the balance firmly in Wales’ path, but O’Shaugnessy should have done better when he was left unmarked in a corner.
Hradecky was a very busy figure discarding Rhys Norrington-Davies’ spinning cross and denying Bale point-blank after James had thrown a delicious cross.
But the Welsh pressure was rewarded when Bale ran away from Joona Toivio and slipped Wilson, who finished clinically for his fourth international goal, and his first at home.
Norrington-Davies approached again and Wales felt death at halftime, with forward Moore sent to replace defender James Lawrence.
Moore’s shock was instantaneous as he helped Joe Morrell find James and the Manchester United winger claimed his third Wales goal in surprising fashion from 20 yards.
Wales’ four previous Nations League victories had been by a 1-0 margin, and this was the first time they had scored two in a game since defeating Hungary 2-0 to reach Euro 2020 almost a year later. .
Bale was recalled just after the clock with Wales apparently in cruise control, but Finland was hopeful when Pukki found space in the penalty area to shoot home.
Ward cleverly saved from Nicholas Hamalainen and Toivio fired wide as Finland chased an unlikely draw amid some Welsh wobbles.
But Moore headed home with the James center to put the matter out of the question, and Finland knew it wasn’t their night when Pukki hit a post moments later.
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