Toulouse: Wales' Euro 2016 adventure continued on Monday as they thumped Russia 3-0 to reach the last 16 as group winners with manager Chris Coleman and midfielder Aaron Ramsey delighted to reward the fans for their fervent support.
Wales ended a 58-year wait for an appearance at a major tournament by reaching the finals in France and, as their supporters' terrace chant goes, they don't want to go home any time soon.
"We've been waiting to be in the finals for a long, long time," goalscorer Ramsey said. "We're finally here. To top the group is a fantastic feeling," he added. "You can hear the fans singing and it means so much to make them proud."
After beating Slovakia in their opener, Wales fell to a late derby defeat by England, but responded emphatically in front of a partisan crowd in Toulouse to thrash Russia and top Group B.
"I'm immensely proud on nights like tonight, when you see that support," said Coleman, "and the feeling of pride as a nation. Geographically, we're small, but if you judge it on passion, we're a continent."
He also said they had asked Russia before the match if Wales could play in their red home kit, despite being designated the 'away' team by Uefa. "Russia obliged," Coleman added."Red's our colour, it's our country, that's why we asked."
Ramsey opened the scoring with a deft chip before goals from Neil Taylor and Gareth Bale - tournament top scorer with his third of the finals - secured a famous victory.
Wales' last major tournament was the 1958 World Cup, when they reached the quarter finals, and their fans were keen to make up for lost time, having transformed Bordeaux into a Welsh enclave before generating a cacophony of support in Toulouse.
Meanwhile, the sight of Russian players passing around the captain's armband after Roman Shirokov went off early in the second half spoke volumes about their performance at Euro 2016.
Shirokov was substituted in the 52nd minute of the embarrassing 3-0 capitulation to Wales but nobody appeared to want to replace him as captain.
The armband was initially handed to Sergei Ignashevich, but he did not put it on, and eventually it found its way back to goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev who half-heartedly accepted it.
That moment was one of several low points in an abject Russian performance which raised serious questions about their ability to present a competitive team when the country hosts the 2018 World Cup.
After the game, coach Leonid Slutski threw in the towel as he accepted responsibility for the failure and said that he needed to be replaced.
Slutski made several changes to the midfield, attempting to give it more punch, but that only played into Wales' hands as it left the Russians open to devastating counter-attacks led by Bale.
Vasili Berezutski and Ignashevich, their two centre-backs with a combined age of 70, were left badly exposed on countless occasions and Wales could easily have added to their tally before Bale finally scored the third in the 67th minute.
All but one of Russia's squad play their club football at home and Berezutski said they needed to go abroad to be exposed to a higher standard. "We must develop players and change how football works," he said. "Our players need to play in Europe. The fact that we all play in the Russian league means we all have certain limitations compared to foreign players."
