Craig Bellamy became the first Wales manager to go unbeaten in his first four matches after edging out Montenegro. It was not all liquid football but there was more promise as Harry Wilson’s third goal in three games, this one from the penalty spot, earned victory and saw him become the first Welshman since Gareth Bale at Euro 2016 to score in three consecutive matches. Wilson has been involved in eight goals in his past nine Wales appearances (five goals, three assists). Joe Allen, 685 days after his last appearance for his country, a miserable defeat by England in Qatar, entered midway through the second half to a warm ovation. One of the prime issues Bellamy has to contend with is a familiar one: the volume of Wales players not exposed to regular game time who arrive on international duty undercooked in terms of match fitness. Ben Davies, Wales captain in the absence of the injured Aaron Ramsey, who was watching on from behind the home dugout, is yet to play a single minute for Tottenham in the Premier League this season. Neco Williams, the architect of both of Wales’s goals in Iceland on Friday and again impressive here, has started three games for Nottingham Forest this campaign. Bellamy acknowledged it is far from ideal but also that Wilson’s fine form for his country makes a mockery of it all. “It’s strange, huh?” Bellamy said in the buildup to the match. “I didn’t realise he was this good.” Wilson has played about 40 minutes in the league for Fulham this term, almost 400 for Wales across four matches. Wilson was Wales’s most dangerous player in a first half they dominated, registering almost three times as many passes as Montenegro, and his wicked delivery on 12 minutes almost led to another early opener. Wilson’s left-foot cross from the right dropped on the edge of the visitors’ six-yard box. Mark Harris, on his first Wales start, twisted his head but failed to make contact and, at the back post, Wes Burns headed wide. Bellamy applauded overhead. Five minutes later Wilson twisted clear of Nikola Sipcic in the box and then saw a shot repelled by Igor Nikic in the Montenegro goal. Soon after Wilson released Liam Cullen in on goal with a sleek pass from close to halfway, but the Swansea striker lifted his shot over the Montenegro goal. It seemed only a matter of time before Wales would ripple Nikic’s net. After Josh Sheehan played a beautiful through ball down the right flank, Williams sent an inviting low ball skidding across the box, Adam Marusic extinguishing the danger. The busy David Brooks twice tested the Montenegro goalkeeper before Wilson won the all-important penalty on 34 minutes, chopping inside Vladimir Jovovic. Bellamy was unmoved. After a long wait, the referee giving Burns a mini-lecture, Wilson stepped up to the spot and confidently side-footed in, sending Nikic the wrong way. Wilson, together with Davies and Williams, was one of three survivors from the starting lineup in Reykjavík, almost doubled his and Wales’s advantage three minutes before the interval, sending a shot just wide of a post after sashaying to the left of Sipcic and using the defender as a mannequin. Montenegro, ranked 74th in the world, had lost their previous five matches and offered nothing in attack. Robert Prosinecki made four changes at the interval, with Stevan Jovetic, Montenegro’s record goalscorer who joined Omonia Nicosia this month, among those introduced. Wales, meanwhile, sought more of the same given the manner Bellamy’s side faded in his previous three matches. But it was Montenegro who first came closest to scoring after the break. Jovetic smacked the crossbar from halfway in Niksic when these countries met last month, Bellamy’s first win as Wales manager, but his first action here was to earn himself a yellow card for moaning at the Slovakian referee, Filip Glova, after tangling with Wilson. Another substitute, Andrija Radulovic, obliged in cracking the woodwork here, though, the 22-year-old wearing the same number shirt bouncing in off the right flank, cutting inside Davies and curling a left-foot shot against the bar. Wales needed to restore control and so Bellamy turned to Allen, the 34-year-old who retired from international duty after the 2022 World Cup but returned to the fold this month. Allen, who played with Bellamy at the 2012 Olympics, replaced Brooks approaching the hour to win his 75th cap for his country. Burns tried and failed to lob Nikic in a rare second-half opening for Wales and, at the other end, Jovetic blasted a free-kick over the bar from 20 yards. Nathan Broadhead, another second-half arrival, dallied when he had a chance to make it 2-0 after a quick free-kick on halfway and Williams went close late on. But, in the end, Wilson’s spot-kick was sufficient.