Euro 2004 play-offs, second legs: Wales soccer chief David Collins warned that his association would have to tighten their belts after the failure of Mark Hughes's side to win their way to the Euro 2004 finals.

The Football Association of Wales secretary general said: "This has cost us a minimum of £3.5 million. That is the prize money we would have got for qualifying.

"Now there will have to be a reassessment on the financial side as this is going to have a major impact.

"It will not affect the squad but there will have to be belt tightening."

The FAW have backed boss Hughes to the hilt as he has streamlined the Welsh squad, but everything was geared to reaching next year's finals in Portugal. Now that dream has died, Hughes and the FAW are left to plan for the next World Cup qualifying campaign, which starts at the beginning of next season.

But Collins insisted that he expected Hughes to lead Wales into that campaign, despite the fact that the former Manchester United star is continually being linked with top club jobs. Collins said: "We have had a fantastic championship. Eighteen months ago we would have been delighted to have been in the play-offs.

"We have fallen at the last hurdle so we have to regroup, see where we have gone wrong. "I am sure Mark and the management team will reassess so that we can go forward into the World Cup 2006 campaign.

"Mark has made tremendous strides. Hopefully he will take us forward so we can have another good shot at the qualifiers for 2006. He is contracted to us until then and he has already said what he wants to do, and I am sure he will do that.

"We are tremendously stronger than when we started this qualifying group. We have finished second in the group rather than fourth and we have had two tremendous play-off matches.

Russia coach Georgi Yartsev claimed his team's tactics in cancelling out the threat of Ryan Giggs and John Hartson had helped his side to victory.

Yartsev said: "I spent a lot of time talking to my players prior to the game, telling them to give special attention to Ryan Giggs and I think a guy of his level did not have two of his best games.

"Football is not ballet, it's a tough game and the only thing I regret is the Moscow game when Ryan Giggs elbowed one of my

players. It's really something to regret although Ryan Giggs is still one of my favourites players.

"I think it was a result of the tensions and emotions and very high stakes of these two games.

"I gave Viktor Onopko a special task to deal with Hartson and he performed it perfectly although Hartson is one of the strongest players in Europe."