Wales must improve in World Cup bid - Wilkinson

Rhian Wilkinson accepted Wales must raise their standards after they scraped to a 1-0 victory in their Women's World Cup play-off semi-final in Albania.

Wales have the upper hand going into Tuesday's second leg in Llanelli after Ezmiralda Franja's first-half own goal gave them victory in Shkoder.

But Wilkinson's team were fortunate to triumph against a team who sit 37 places below them in the Fifa rankings after Albania created the game's best chances.

"We stuck with it. [It was a] resilient performance. Not our best, but equally, we learned to win on hard days, and today it wasn't our best," the Wales head coach said.

"Coming home with [the win] is great. We're halfway there.

"We need to make sure we take care of business at home but equally push our standards a bit."

Wilkinson had set a clean sheet as Wales' primary target in Albania and her players delivered on that score, albeit in fortuitous fashion.

While Wales' attacking threat was limited, Franja, Fortesa Berisha and Megi Doci all came close for the home side.

Albania's failure to convert one of their opportunities meant that just as had been the case in their three away games in the group stage of World Cup qualifying, Wales claimed a positive result despite being frustrated with aspects of their performance.

"I didn't think we defended overly well today to be honest, but what we did do is we never quit," Wilkinson added.

"I do think I've been in this job long enough to have seen that growth with this team, that we're finding ways to stick in the game.

"And we've got to be happy with that right now because, again, we're away from home and in an environment where they made it really tough."

Wales thumped Albania 4-0 in Wrexham on their way to winning Group B4, during which they thumped Montenegro in Llanelli and claimed a rousing 3-1 success against the Czech Republic in Cardiff.

They return to Parc y Scarlets hoping another dominant home performance will send them through to a two-legged play-off final in December.

"Albania will feel like they were right in this game and they were," Wilkinson said.

"So we've got to make sure that we match their energy and take advantage of the stretch in the game that they're going to give us because they're going to go for it.

"It's another battle. I'm confident in my team, but we've got to be ready to fight because definitely Albania will be."

Should they progress, Wales look likely to face Norway after Gemma Grainger's team won 2-0 in Romania on Friday.

Even if Wales topple the Norwegians, who are ranked 14th in the world, they may then have to negotiate inter-confederation play-offs next February to secure a place at next summer's World Cup in Brazil.