Wales recovered from an unexpected scare against Kazakhstan to make a winning, if unconvincing, start to their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign.

Wales may have thought they were in for a comfortable night's work when Daniel James put them ahead with a deflected shot in the ninth minute, but they were stunned when Kazakhstan scored their first competitive goal since 2023 to level the scores.

The visitors, ranked 110th in the world, were awarded a penalty when Islam Chesnokov's cross struck the arm of Connor Roberts, and Kazakh captain Askhat Tagybergen's spot-kick dribbled over the line after Karl Darlow had almost saved.

If the home crowd were nervous at the half-time scoreline, captain Ben Davies quelled their fears a minute after the break when he headed home Sorba Thomas' corner to restore the hosts' lead.

Craig Bellamy's side were still unable to really take control of the game as they squandered a number of chances and Kazakhstan goalkeeper Alexandr Zarutskiy made some fine saves.

But they did enough to earn the win, even if the performance was lacking, and substitute Rabbi Matondo netted his first international goal in stoppage time from another Thomas pass.

Next up is a trip to North Macedonia on Tuesday, who opened their campaign with a 3-0 win over Group J bottom side Liechtenstein.

That was North Macedonia's sixth win on the bounce and while Wales will start as slight favourites in Skopje, they will need to improve on that performance against Kazakhstan if they are to take six points from six.