Paul Jones (pictured) was dealt a double blow yesterday as his rebounded clearance left Wales with a 1-1 draw against Croatia while news filtered through that Antti Niemi could soon challenge him for the number one shirt at Saints.

Wales had taken a 1-0 lead thanks to Spurs star Simon Davis but it went wrong for Jones in the second half when his clearance was blocked by Mario Maric only for the ball to go to Mla-den Petric, who made no mistake with the finish.

Elsewhere in last night's inter-national friendlies, Rory Delap put the disappointment of missing out on the EIRE World Cup squad behind him by setting up the second goal as his country beat Finland, and possible future colleague Niemi, 3-0.

Delap replaced Blackburn star Damien Duff at half time and set up the Irish second by nodding back Stephen McPahil's long ball for Colin Healy to smash home his shot.

Claus Lundekvam and Jo Tessem both played a part for Norway as they went down 1-0 to Holland thanks to a 71st-minute strike from Edgar Davids.

Lundekvam replaced ex-Manchester Untied centre half Ronny Johnsen at half-time while Tessem started the match before being repalced by current Old Trafford striker striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at half-time.

Both the Svenssons were in action for Sweden as they grabbed a 1-1 draw with Russia. Anders started the match but was substituted for Kim Kallstron after 76 minutes while Michael began the game on the bench but was introduced at half- time for Andreas Jakobsson.

Kerzjakov gave Russia the lead after 55 minutes but an injury-time goal from Zlatan Ibrahimovic meant the game finished all square.

Latvia lost 4-2 to Belarus despite the work of Imants Bleidelis but Marian Pahars sat out the game having only played one match since his summer groin op.