Wales would not have wanted the chance to fall to anyone else. It was the sort of opportunity Gareth Bale normally takes blindfolded – on the penalty spot and with only the goalkeeper to beat.

In truth, it was a sitter. Somehow Wales’ best player contrived to miss, going with his lesser right foot, and scooping a tame effort towards the target which was easily saved. The mistake was to prove fatal. The Hungary midfielder Mate Patkai took advantage to slam home a late winner which leaves Ryan Giggs’s side up against it in their bid to reach next summer’s European Championship finals. Azerbaijan at home in September has become a must-win game.

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For Bale it continued what has been a miserable end to the season. After falling out of favour at Real Madrid and with his future uncertain, the 29-year-old has looked well off the pace on international duty in the past week and back-to-back defeats have left Wales six points off Hungary at the top of group E. As he flew straight from Budapest to Madrid on Tuesday night, Bale would have known that had he taken his chance it would have been a very different story for him, Giggs, and Wales.

“The performance was not good enough, especially in the first half. The tempo was too slow. We were under pressure from a lot of set-pieces, but it was our doing,” Giggs said. “You have to take your chances at this level. If you don’t, this is what happens. Gareth is disappointed like all of us. It’s been difficult for him fitness wise, but he’s been fine around the place.” The manager also allayed suggestions Bale is low on confidence, but that looked to be the case on the field.

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After Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Croatia in sweltering Osijek, Giggs rightly made changes. There were five in total as Ashley Williams returned as captain and Chris Gunter, Ethan Ampadu, David Brooks and Tom Lawrence came into the starting lineup, too.

Slovakia’s 5-1 thrashing of Azerbaijan earlier on had heaped further pressure on Wales to get something from this one. But Hungary looked dangerous from set-pieces and Bale twice headed clear. The soon-to-be £15m Manchester United man Daniel James started as the spearhead of a fluid attack and soon showed exactly what he can do with a slaloming run. It teed up Tom Lawrence, whose shot was saved.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Gareth Bale misses the crucial chance to put Wales ahead in Hungary. Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA

Bale was at best quiet in the first half and at worst peripheral. Wales remained vulnerable on the counterattack and from set-pieces in the second half and after the ball was lumped into their box it fell kindly to Dominik Szoboszlai, who fired over in wild fashion.

Quick guide Euro 2020 Show Hide UEFA's Euro 2020 championship will take place between 12 June and 12 July 2020, in 12 host cities spread across the continent. Games will be played in Amsterdam, Baku, Bilbao, Bucharest, Budapest, Copenhagen, Dublin, Munich, Rome, Saint Petersburg, with Glasgow's Hampden Park and London's Wembley also hosting matches. The semi-finals and final will be in London. Qualification for the tournament is scheduled to finish in March 2020, with a round of play-offs to determine the final four slots in the 24 team tournament. Countries that have a host city are guaranteed to be playing at least two matches there if they qualify. This puts England and Scotland on a collision course to meet in Group D if they both qualify, and guarantees that the Republic of Ireland and Spain would be together in Group E if they both progress. It will be the 16th time UEFA has run the competition. Portugal are the current champions. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Anadolu

Then came the game’s crucial moment. It was a fine move from Wales. Brooks did brilliantly to send Tom Lawrence away, he delivered from the right, and Bale looked certain to score. Why he went with his right foot only he will know, but the shot was tame. And the team paid the price.

After Joe Allen had cleared off the line, Hungary went direct again, the defender James Lawrence could not cope with Adam Szalai, and Patkai ran on to take possession. His finish was powerful and unnerving.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Mate Patkai (right) is congratulated by Adam Szalai after scoring Hungary’s winning goal. Photograph: Tibor Illyes/EPA

It broke Welsh hearts and Giggs looked crestfallen as Hungary missed several late chances to put the game to bed in front of the raucous crowd behind the goal. But Szalai hooked the ball from Bale’s path in the final moments as Wales went for broke, and the Madrid man then had a header saved.

“We have got the players to beat teams, but that’s no good if you can’t put the ball in the net,” Giggs said. “We’ve had two tough away games, but we’ve had to ask the players to perform miracles as they were short of match fitness. We need to win every win game now. It’s early days and there are still a lot of points to play for, but we are now relying on other teams to drop points. That will happen.

“We have given away soft goals in both games. Again, you can’t do that at this level,” he added.