Wales have been left to ponder whether they now have any realistic chance of achieving their aim of having Russia thrown out of the Euro 2004 finals because of Yegor Titov's failed drugs test.

UEFA's decision yesterday to rebuff their attempt to overturn the play-off result against the Russians - Wales lost 1-0 on aggregate - was not unexpected.

The next step would be to take the matter to UEFA's appeals committee but previously Wales boss Mark Hughes has said he would go all the way to the European Court for Arbitration in Sport if he had to.

The Football Association of Wales (FAW) was told by UEFA that, in the case of a doping offence, the individual and not the team was held responsible.

The fact that Titov failed a test - for Bromantan - after the first game, which he did not play in, while the FAW's complaint concerned the second leg, when he played for an hour, was also identified as a problem by UEFA.

The FAW, UEFA said, failed "to provide evidence that the player was under the influence of a prohibited substance" in the second game.

Wales will now spend a couple of days considering their next move, with the deadline for the appeal at midnight on Friday.

But Hughes criticised UEFA for failing to take what he believes would be a firm stand against drugs cheats.

He said: "Obviously I am disappointed. I had hoped they would have taken the opportunity to send a message to everybody in our sport, but they have not taken that opportunity, wrongly in my view."

FAW secretary general David Collins said: "We will now sit down with our committee and legal experts to decide what to do next.

"We have a couple of days to decide what course of action we want to take."

UEFA spokesman Rob Faulkner, explaining the decision, said: "The disciplinary body reviewed the evidence of the FAW and felt there was a failure to provide evidence that the player was under the influence of any prohibitive substance during the second leg.

"UEFA regulations are clear that the punishment applies to the player and not the team."