Only a few days ago Craig Bellamy suggested Wales had blown Nations League A4 wide open with a hand grenade but here Danny Ward detonated it to gift Denmark a penalty and Rasmus Højlund the chance to earn a slender victory from the spot.

Until that moment of madness, after 73 minutes, Ward had kept Wales in the game, his best stop a sublime right-hand save to prevent Gustav Isaksen a headed opener. But after keeping Denmark at bay, he scored an own goal of sorts by taking out Isaksen in the box after a miskick. Bellamy covered his face, using his right hand as a temporary visor while the video assistant referee, Ivan Bebek, reviewed the incident. Then came the unwanted confirmation from the referee and Højlund rippled a pocket of the Wales net with a flawless penalty. A first clean sheet since beating Liechtenstein last November also went out of the window. The life of a goalkeeper, eh?

At the outset, the difficulty for Wales was to trying to replicate the high of Thursday’s victory over Norway, arguably Bellamy’s finest moment in the job, the obvious caveat that their opponents played almost all of the second half with 10 men. The emotions felt after that triumph were always going to be hard to match but despite the awkward 7.45pm kick-off on a Sunday night, the Barry Horns, the brass brand who enthusiastically soundtrack Wales matches, made a racket and contributed to a fine atmosphere. Even without a full house, the prematch anthem was stirring if not spine-tingling. Bellamy stressed the importance of building on the performance in midweek as a minimum, against opposition who last week comprehensively outplayed them in Copenhagen.

Bellamy said it was impossible to name the same XI owing to the toll of four matches across 11 days but in the end Daniel James was the only player to make way, Brennan Johnson taking his place on the wing. Ben Davies, whose only minutes for Tottenham came against a Charlton Athletic B team in the Carabao Cup, started a fourth successive game this window, together with Neco Williams and Ethan Ampadu, whose Leeds team visit Arsenal in Saturday’s early kick-off when the Premier League resumes. Ward continued in goal but had little to do in the first half, Højlund’s weak sixth-minute shot, on the spin, the visitors’ sole shot on target in the opening period. An alert Ward was called into action early in the second half, preventing the Napoli striker Højlund from sweeping in Andreas Skov Olsen’s cross with his left leg.

On the eve of this match Bellamy was effusive in his praise of Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, now of Marseille, describing the former Spurs midfielder as a “coach on the pitch”. After just two touches, a pass and a failed cross, Højbjerg was forced off after seemingly pulling a hamstring. Wales, all in red, had a couple of bright moments but Denmark looked the more dangerous in a low-key game. It was almost as if this was the fourth game in a marathon camp. Isaksen dropped a header wide and Højlund miskicked another decent chance after a speeding Mohamed Daramy beat Davies and Ben Cabango on the flank.

Ward’s first save of the half, to deny Højlund, was smart but his second was phenomenal. Joakim Mæhle raced down the left and before reaching the byline flung into the box a feathery, hanging cross. Isaksen, of Lazio, read the trajectory of the ball all the way and even cleverly adjusted his body position to pick his spot, the target the bottom right-hand corner of Ward’s goal. Isaksen appeared to have directed the perfect header towards goal but Ward got a brilliant right hand to the ball and pushed it on to his right post. At that point, Ward was undoubtedly Wales’s hero.

There were glimpses of quality from Wales but they failed to test Mads Hermansen, a former Leicester clubmate of Ward’s. Thomas was again a threat on the left, intermittently destroying the Denmark right-back Rasmus Kristensen and Liam Cullen, now of Leicester after ending his near two-decade stint at Swansea, was industrious as a playmaker. But then, out of nothing, Ward conceded a clumsy penalty. Cabango shifted the ball across to his goalkeeper, from right to left, but Ward, looking to move the ball on again, inadvertently shovelled a miscued pass straight to Isaksen. A panicked Ward instantly tried to make amends but his desperation got the better of him and he clattered into Isaksen and gave Hojlund the chance to beat him from 12 yards. Hojlund waited for Ward to dive to his left and slotted the ball into the opposite corner.