CHRIS Coleman savoured a night to remember for Welsh football as Liverpool teenager Ben Woodburn made a dream international debut.

Woodburn struck Wales' World Cup qualifying winner against Austria in Cardiff just five minutes after coming on as a 69th-minute substitute.

Wales' 1-0 victory moved them to within two points of the Republic of Ireland - who drew 1-1 at Georgia earlier in the day - in second place in Group D.

Group leaders Serbia remain four points ahead of Wales with three games to play.

"It is one of those nights to remember," Wales manager Coleman said after 17-year-old Woodburn had rifled home a winner from 22 yards.

"It was a great way to win the game. Ben is young but we have seen enough.

"This is not a player we have just discovered, we have had him for some years in our system.

'"I had no worries about him at all. It wasn't just his goal, it was his all-round play, his intelligence.

"He has good composure, he is not fazed.

"The acid test is when you take that step up, first in training, then how you handle your debut. He has come through that in flying colours.

"He still has a lot to do. But we have seen in our experience he is capable at our level to make a difference."

Wales next head to Moldova on Tuesday, while the Republic entertain Serbia in Dublin on the same night.

After that, Wales finish their campaign with an October double-header away to Georgia and at home to the Republic.

"We are a couple points back on the Republic and they have got to come to us in the last fixture," Coleman said.

"But the biggest game we've had in a long time is away to Moldova. We have to take care of our own business.

"This campaign has been very tight and difficult for all of us.

"We could have been 2-0 down in the first half, the second half was a different story.

"But it's fine margins and luckily for us it was our night.

"We've always felt we've been playing catch-up in the group and later than the other teams.

"If we can't catch Serbia we've got to catch Ireland. We've got three games to go and anything can happen."

Meanwhile, in finding the back of the net, Woodburn became his country’s second youngest scorer behind Real Madrid superstar Gareth Bale.

“It’s a dream come true and I’m just happy we got the three points, and now it’s on to Moldova,” said Woodburn.

“It just came out of the air, I took it down and I tried to get my shot off as quickly as I could, and luckily it went in.

“It was tense near the end and maybe could have gone either way but luckily we pipped it.”

Questions in the mixed zone post-match came thick and fast, including what boss Chris Coleman had said to him before going on and about settling into the squad.

“He (Coleman) said enjoy yourself and help the team as best you can, and hopefully I did that,” added Woodburn.

“The manager and the players have been great around me and they’ve helped me.

“They’ve treated me like one of them so it’s been easy to bond with everybody.

“Obviously it is nerve-racking coming into a new squad but the players were welcoming and they helped me to feel at home.

“Hopefully we can get qualification, it would be unbelievable to get to the World Cup.”