Jayne Ludlow insists Wales women are making progress despite seeing their hopes of qualifying for next year’s European Championship finals ended by Norway.
Wales lost 2-0 at Newport on Tuesday night and although they still have two games remaining, they are now nine points behind group leaders Austria and the Norwegians.
But Ludlow believes Wales are heading forwards and said: “I want these girls to get to a major tournament finals because they deserve to.
“We’re looking forward to the next two games, never mind the next campaign – it is about building and creating stepping stones.
“I’m so proud of the group because for 60 minutes that game was ours for the taking. But against top opposition you can’t switch off for 90 minutes and unfortunately we let ourselves down at key times which is a little bit disappointing.
“For the majority of the game, we’re happy with what the girls gave us – happy but not complete. We have more to come.
“At the end of the day we’re playing one of the best teams and they have been for quite a considerable amount of time. So we’re pleased, but there are still areas to work on.
“The thought process going into this game was very different; we’ve been working on things throughout the week that were challenging for the girls. The biggest positive from today was to see them executing that for 70 minutes.”
Norway secured the win through Ada Hegerberg’s two well-taken second-half goals.
Hegerberg’s back post header broke the deadlock before her stunning strike from distance secured victory. Kayleigh Green went closest for Wales when her long-range shot was tipped on to the bar by keeper Ingrid Hjelmset.
Norway manager Roger Finjord said: “It was very important for us to win today, so we can go in the summer break and then continue to prepare for the Euros when we come back together.
“We expected this kind of match. We have seen they have a new attacking style, some very, very good players – Jess Fishlock is one of the best in Europe. I think Wales are a very good team, so it was very important to win today.”