Speed satisfied with progress

Wales boss Gary Speed was pleased with his side's performance as they won three games in a row for the first time since 2008 with a 4-1 friendly victory over Norway at the Cardiff City Stadium.

Gareth Bale's fierce volley broke the deadlock after just 11 minutes and Craig Bellamy doubled the lead just five minutes later with a superb curling effort from the edge of the box, before Erik Huseklepp's second-half gift gave Norway hope. But Wolves' forward Sam Vokes sealed the win with his brace in the dying minutes.

Strange

And Speed told Sky Sports: "It was strange really. The first 20 minutes, I thought we were unbelievable. I thought it was the best we've played and we played really well, scoring two great goals and I think we took our foot off the pedal a little bit. We lost a bit of discipline.

"Two-nil is a bad score for a manager because the players when it's one-nil, the players are on edge and alert, but two-nil, I think we relaxed too much and they did that today against a good team.

"Norway are a good team and they caused us a few problems and in the second half I thought they were probably the better team in the first 20 minutes, but in the last quarter we scored two fantastic goals and it just shows that if we do keep it solid at the back then we've got so much going forward that we can beat teams like that."

However, Speed was upset with the lack of a clean sheet, saying: "I turned away actually and haven't seen it (Huseklepp's goal). I thought Wayne (Hennessey) had it, but it's one of them things that hopefully we can learn from that and it won't happen again."

Fantastic

And after Vokes' two quick-fire goals after coming on as a late second half replacement, Speed admitted that was the kind of competition he requires if he is to build a successful side.

"Yeah, absolutely. I think it was fantastic that Sam come on and he did really well when he did come on, apart from his goals," added Speed.

"I felt a bit sorry for Steve (Morison). He's worked his socks off all game and for somebody else to get the reward, you know, that's football."