AS THE old Roy Orbison song says: "It's over."

Like their counterparts back in 1993, Mark Hughes' side of 2003 will go down as the nearly men of Welsh football after a 1-0 defeat in Cardiff last night.

For some such as Andy Melville, Paul Jones and maybe even Gary Speed the dream of playing in a major international tournament is now over.

Others such as Robert Earnshaw, Danny Gabbidon and Craig Bellamy will get other opportunities to qualify for a major final.

But will they ever get as close as this?

In the end you have to say Mark Hughes' side lost their bottle at the crucial stage.

An impressive start to this Euro 2004 qualifying campaign was to no avail, Hughes' side finishing without a win in their last seven games.

After surviving the big freeze over in Moscow, Hughes' side got stage fright on the most inopportune of occasions.

After playing a defensive Russian Roulette in Moscow, the decision to stick with Andy Johnson and keep Cardiff City's pint-sized striker Robert Earnshaw (pictured right) on the bench until the second half backfired on Hughes who may now have managed Wales for the last time.

He kept faith with the system that worked so well in Moscow's Lokomotiv Stadium last Saturday, but it simply wasn't suited to this match where Wales had to seize the initiative and take the game to the Russians.

The game started at an electrifying pace with Wales putting rookie Russian 'keeper Viacheslav Malafeev under immediate pressure and in fairness to Malafeev he coped with his first test well.

A dangerous Jason Koumas cross after only two minutes looked as if it would cause Malafeev problems, but he dealt with the danger well and punched the ball clear to the edge of the box where Robbie Savage was unable to make any real connection as the ball bounced high on him.

It was a blistering start by Wales and they continued to press, but with John Hartson being penalised at every opportunity by Spanish referee Manuel Gonzalez and Johnson losing the midfield battle with Alexei Smerten, the Russian started to turn the screw.

And with 22 minutes gone disaster struck for Hughes' men as they fell 1-0 behind. It's easy to point the finger at people after the event, but Wales' marking for the goal was poor and they paid the ultimate price.

Grimsby defender Darren Barnard committed a foul near the right corner flag.

The resulting free-kick was delightfully swung in by Russian midfielder Rolan Gusev and an unmarked Vadim Evseev (pictured above) headed past Jones from six yards.

And just to rub salt into the wounds it had to be Evseev who scored.

He, of course, was the man who so dramatically tried to get Ryan Giggs sent of on Saturday after the Welshman had appeared to elbow him in the face.

The fact that Giggs made contact is not an issue, but the way in which Evseev over-exaggerated his injury made him a target for the Welsh boo boys at the Millennium Stadium last night.

It was a cruel blow for Wales but to their credit they didn't let their heads drop with Giggs in particular grabbing the game by the scruff of its neck in an attempt to inspire Wales into some sort of response.

And just before the break the Manchester United man almost put the Principality back on level terms.

After latching on to Hartson's nod down, however, the normally reliable Giggs fired his left-foot shot against a post from only eight-yards out as Malafeev rushed out (pictured left).

It was a golden opportunity and under normal circumstances Giggs would probably take that type of chance 99 times out of 100.

However he didn't last night and perhaps it was a sign that this just wasn't going to be Wales' night.

Gusev had a chance to make it 2-0 just before the break but his shot across the face of Jones' goal drifted inches wide and the Russians went into the break with a vital one-goal advantage.

Wales came out after half-time with all guns blazing knowing that they needed at least two goals to progress through to the Euro 2004 finals in Portugal next summer.

And with only five minutes of the second-half gone it should have been 1-1.

Koumas' in-swinging corner was met by an unmarked Speed at the far post, but with most people expecting to see the back of the net bulging, the Newcastle United midfielder sent his header wide of Malafeev's left-hand post.

Five minutes later Giggs again had a chance to level the scores but his impressive near post flick from another Koumas cross sailed agonisingly wide of the far post.

Panic in the record 73,062 crowd started to set in and they were soon calling for the introduction of the man the Cardiff City fans call the 'Zambian Prince.'

On the hour the fans got their wish with Earnshaw replacing Johnson.

His arrival changed the way Hughes' side played and at last they started to impose a bit of pace.

Try as they might, however, the Welsh strikers, who also included Newport-born Nathan Blake as a replacement for Koumas late on, just couldn't break down a resilient Russian defence.

In fact, it wasn't until a Koumas effort that was parried in the 67th minute that Wales managed to get a shot on target.

That statistic tells its own story and by the final whistle they had only managed two shots on target in the entire 90 minutes.

Late on Wales were grateful to Paul Jones for keeping them in the tie, the Southampton goalkeeper twice rescuing his side with world class saves, one by a mere finger-tip.

And as time ran out the Welsh players just knew it wasn't going to be their night.

Robbie Savage, who had epitomised Wales' efforts in both ties, just had nothing left in the tank, and though Giggs and Speed continued to give 110 per cent it was all to no avail.

When the final whistle was eventually blown after four minutes of injury time the sight of John Hartson walking off the pitch in tears just about said it all.

Now the post mortem will begin as Wales continue their quest to reach their first major international finals since those glorious days back in 1958.

Wales: (4-5-1-1) P Jones, M Delaney, D Barnard, A Melville, D Gabbidon, A Johnson (R Earnshaw 60), R Savage, J Koumas (N Blake 74), J Hartson, G Speed, R Giggs. Substitutes not used: K Symons, R Edwards, C Robinson, J Oster, M Crossley. Yellow cards: Savage 56, Barnard 65

Russia: (4-4-2) V Malafeev, V Evseev, D Sennikov, A Smertin, D Alenichev, S Ignashevich, V Onopko, R R Gusev, E Titov (V Radimov 58), D Bulykin, M Izmailov. Substitutes not used: I Akinfeev, A Solomatin, E Aldonine, V Radimov, D Loskov, D Sychev, A Kerzhakov. Yellow cards: Alenichev 60, Bulykin 73, Radimov 89.

Referee: M E M Gonzalez (Spain).

Attendance: 73,062.