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A young Welsh side produced a professional performance to beat Azerbaijan 1-0 in World Cup qualifying group 4 in Baku and move to within two points of second placed Russia.

Wolves midfielder David Edwards got the only goal of the game in the 41st minute and Wales' three man defence of Ashley Williams, Craig Morgan and Lewin Nyatanga stayed solid in the second-half under some intense pressure to pick up the three points.

With Russia still having two games in hand and a two point advantage over Wales, the win is not enough to put Wales back into the qualification race, but it is a morale boosting win for John Toshack's inexperienced side.

Azerbaijan are managed by former Germany and Scotland coach Berti Vogts but he now faces the sack as his side have picked up just one point from five games.

Until the goal neither side created anything of note as both teams struggled to get their passing going but the Welsh side created the better half-chances.

Joe Ledley had one shot blocked in the box and Robert Earnshaw should have done better with a header from a corner.

Meanwhile on the half hour mark it looked for a moment like Reading forward Simon Church, making his first start for Wales, was clear on goal after pouncing on a stray back pass but Rashad Saigov made a great late challenge.

Wales did take the lead in the 41st minute though and it was Earnshaw who made it happen with a superb cross form the right. Church did enough at the near post to distract goalkeeper Farkhad Veliyev and the ball fell to Edwards at the far post who fired into the empty net.

After the break Wales played a dangerous game and sat back but Azerbaijan lacked a cutting edge going forward and most of their chances were restricted to long range efforts.

Wayne Hennessey was forced to make a couple of saves to deny substitutes Branimir Subasic and Aqil Nabiyez but the Wolves stopper never needed to be anything more than competent throughout.

Against a more creative side, Wales might have shipped at least one goal but they worked hard throughout and deserved their victory.

They have now completed the double against Azerbaijan but will face a much sterner test next September when they host Russia at Cardiff in their next game.

Finland came from behind to beat Liechtenstein 2-1 and keep their 2010 World Cup qualification hopes alive.

With the Finns failing to generate chances and a draw a looming possibility, Jonatan Johansson ran into the box in the 71st minute to take a Roman Eremenko pass and drove a shot into the far corner of the net past keeper Peter Jehle.

Liechtenstein had opened the scoring in the 13th minute against the run of play, notching their first goal of the qualification when Beni Fischer slid a pass into the box to Mario Frick, who shot past keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen.

Mikael Forssell, who squandered two good scoring chances earlier in the match, atoned with a 33rd minute tap-in from an Aleksei Eremenko cross to draw Finland level.

Finland now have 10 points from five games heading into a must-win match with Russia on Wednesday in Helsinki. Liechtenstein remain bottom of group four with one point.

Seán Fay / Eurosport