Wales suffered a third defeat of their Nations League campaign as Rasmus Hojlund's second-half penalty gave Denmark a deserved 1-0 victory in Cardiff.

Wales looked for a while like claiming a hard-fought goalless draw on a night when Denmark were by far the more menacing side, with Danny Ward making fine saves to deny Hojlund and Gustav Isaksen.

But the Wales goalkeeper then gave away the decisive spot-kick when he handed possession to Isaksen with a loose pass in the penalty area before catching the Denmark midfielder as he dived in an attempt to recover.

Former Manchester United striker Hojlund calmly converted from 12 yards, sending Ward the wrong way to leave Wales third in Group A4 - courtesy of their head-to-head record against Norway - with two games of what has so far proved a challenging campaign remaining.

Wales go to Norway and host Portugal next month knowing they need at least one positive result to boost their Euro 2028 qualification hopes by avoiding a fourth-place finish in the group.

There was no shortage of endeavour from Craig Bellamy's side at the Cardiff City Stadium, but they lacked the quality in possession to trouble Denmark and could have no complaints over the result.

Denmark carried more threat throughout, with the early substitution of captain Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg - which came on the back of Mikkel Damsgaard's injury withdrawal - not knocking Brian Riemer's team out of their stride.

Towering centre-back Oliver Provstgaard missed the best chance of the first half when he headed over at the far post as Wales creaked but made it to the break on level terms.

Denmark ought to have gone ahead early in the second period when Andres Skov Olsen crossed and Hojlund shot too close to Ward when he seemed destined to score.

Ward then produced a fabulous stop to turn Isaksen's header on to the post only for his error to lead to the game's key moment, with Wales showing little sign of finding a path to goal at the other end.

Their one chance of note came shortly before the penalty when Sorba Thomas crossed for Brennan Johnson but, with the angle tight, the Everton forward lashed a half-volley over the bar.

Denmark are ranked 21st in the world by Fifa, 17 places higher than Wales, but the two nations are direct rivals – along with Norway - in the scrap to secure a place in pot one at December's European Championship qualifying draw.

That is the prize for finishing higher than fourth in this Nations League group – and it is now advantage Denmark after their triumph and Norway's 2-1 defeat in Portugal.

Following their rousing win over the Norwegians on Thursday, Bellamy's men could have seized the initiative with a second straight win – but they never looked like finding a way to avenge last weekend's 2-0 defeat in Copenhagen.

Denmark were too strong and too assured for a Welsh side who were short of their best.

This international window has been a tall order for Wales given that it featured four games - rather than the traditional two – and that all the fixtures were against high-class opposition.

As he faced a challenging schedule, Bellamy could have done with having all his frontline players available, yet Wales have been depleted throughout.

First-choice goalkeeper Karl Darlow, centre-backs Joe Rodon and Dylan Lawlor and Harry Wilson – Wales' key player since the retirement of Gareth Bale – all missed the entire camp.

David Brooks only featured in the opening loss to Portugal before going down with injury, leaving Bellamy without influential performers all across the pitch.

In truth, it showed.

Wales were worthy winners against Norway – albeit against a side with only 10 men for most of the second half – but cannot claim to have deserved more from any of their three defeats.

Nevertheless, they are still in the hunt to avoid finishing bottom, which would be a notable achievement given the calibre of their opponents.