WALES 0 ISRAEL 0

PUT that champagne on ice and pack away the party poppers – for now.

Party poopers Israel ensured that Wales have not booked their passage to France just yet.

With a home clash against Group B whipping boys Andorra to come next month, after the trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina, it is surely only a matter of time for Chris Coleman’s men.

Unlike those painful nights in 1977, 1985, 1993 and 2003, when Welsh legends like Toshack, Southall, Rush, Giggs and Speed missed out, this wasn’t win or bust for Bale and Co.

But with so many near misses in the collective memory the nation needs this group of players to get the job done as quickly as possible.

A raucous, passionate 33,000 fans came to celebrate the steel of Wayne Hennessey and Ashley Williams and the style of Aaron Ramsey and Gareth Bale at a sold-out Cardiff City Stadium.

But it turned into an evening of frustration, tense and nervy until the end, leaving Wales hoping for the unlikely event of Belgium dropping points in Cyprus tonight to enable them to get over the line before next month.

The Cypriots battled hard and held out until the 86th minute before Eden Hazard sealed the three points for the Belgians and ensured that the wait goes on.

All the talk beforehand had been about the legendary team of 1958 who sealed qualification against the Israelis in a two-leg play-off.

In the second leg at Cardiff's Ninian Park on February 5 that year goals from Ivor Allchurch and Cliff Jones booked Jimmy Murphy's team a ticket to Sweden with a 4-0 aggregate win.

Could history repeat itself? The way that Wales started in the warm September sun it seemed we might be in for a similarly comfortable evening.

Bale, Ramsey and Hal Robson-Kanu raced out of the blocks in a high tempo assault on the Israeli penalty area.

Ramsey saw two efforts blocked and saved inside the first two minutes, the Robson-Kanu played in Andy King and his shot was saved by goalkeeper Ofir Marciano and Ramsey headed over from the rebound.

Coleman’s men could also have had a penalty early on as Neil Taylor’s cross from the left appeared to strike the hand of defender Eliazer Dasa in the box but Croatian referee Ivan Bebek ignored the screams from the crowd.

The domination of possession continued throughout the first half but the intensity and the frenzied flurry of chances dried up.

But there were no alarms at the other end where Wales number one Wayne Hennessey was completely redundant until the 83rd minute.

The visitors came to frustrate Wales and defended deep, seemingly happy with a point.

They did make two tactical changes at the break, bringing on Tomer Hemed and Tal Ben Haim II to join Tal Ben Haim I.

But it was the hosts who continued to make all the running and Robson-Kanu spurned another half chance on 53 minutes when his header from Jazz Richards’ cross was well off target.

The pressure even seemed to get to Bale as he raced towards goal and ballooned an effort 30 yards over Marciano’s bar soon afterwards.

The Real Madrid superstar had another great chance to break the deadlock just before the hour when the livewire Robson-Kanu was hauled down by Orel Dgani.

The offence took place right on the edge of the penalty area and that position, dead centre in the D, proved too close for Bale to get his free-kick up and down in time and it cleared the bar by a foot.

The noise levels started to build steadily as the men in red slowly turned the screw and King saw a close range header acrobatically caught on the line by Marciano.

Another strong appeal for a handball in the box was ignored before David Edwards was denied by Marciano as he flicked on a Ramsey corner.

Roared on by their fervent support, Wales kept pushing, kept probing but, like his boxing namesake, Marciano proved himself unbeatable.

Sub Simon Church thought he'd won it with a header deep into injury time but the flag was up and Wales must wait a little longer.

Wales: Hennessey, Richards, Gunter, Williams, Davies, Taylor, Edwards, King (Vokes, 85), Ramsey, Bale, Robson-Kanu (Church, 79)

Subs not used: Ward, O.Williams, Chester, MacDonald, Vaughan, Cotterill, Collins, Lawrence, J.Williams, Henley

Booked: Richards, Robson-Kanu

Israel: Marciano, Ben Haim, Bitton, Natcho, Zahavi (Sahar, 90), Kayal (Ben Haim II, 46), Dabbur (Hemed, 46), Dasa, Dgani, Ben Harush, Tibi

Subs not used: Levi, Haimov, Meshumar, Melikson, Davidzada, Vermouth, Tzedek, Kehat

Booked: Dabbur, Dasa, Dgani

Referee: Ivan Bebek (Croatia)

Attendance: 32,653

Argus star man: Robson-Kanu