This trip to Montenegro will live long in the memory for Craig Bellamy and the hundreds of Wales supporters who made the jaunt. In the city of Niksic, at a poky stadium with a running track and only two stands – one completely exposed to the elements – Bellamy chalked up his first win as Wales manager.

In filthy conditions, Wales quickly got to work, Kieffer Moore scoring inside 38 seconds and Harry Wilson adding an improvised, superb second less than two minutes later. Puddles littered the pitch but in the end a 73rd-minute Driton Camaj strike did not truly dampen the mood, though victory was not without problems.

On the eve of this game Bellamy’s face lit up as he recalled fond memories of Robert Prosinecki, who took charge of Montenegro in February, as a maverick player known for rifling through cigarettes at half-time. Prosinecki, a European Cup winner with Red Star Belgrade in 1991 who also starred for Real Madrid, joined Portsmouth in the twilight of his career and former teammates recall him puffing away in the cubicles of dressing-room toilets. “He didn’t conform … these type of profiles we always love,” said Bellamy, who is arguably one himself. Bellamy took delight in referencing the Yugoslavia Under-21 team that won the Fifa World Youth Championship in 1987, name-checking Zvonimir Boban and Davor Suker.

This match was due to be played in Podgorica but a fortnight ago the game was moved to Niksic because Uefa held concerns over the pitch. The surface, normally home to Montenegro Under-21 matches, was certainly tested after a day of biblical rain, which prompted local power cuts. For Wales supporters, tricolour bucket hats helped shelter from incessant downpours.

Bellamy doesn’t tend to do things half-heartedly so when, before kick-off, he insisted the rain-soaked surface amid a backdrop of thunder and lightning were “really good conditions”, he meant it. Either that or he was not interested in making excuses. Within two and half a minutes his pre-match assessment had manifested itself. Moore buried a first-time shot almost straightaway after Wilson’s pass pinballed into his path and Wilson doubled Wales’s advantage with a spectacular, swerving left-foot strike from about 25 yards.

It was hard not to think Montenegro’s players were affected by the emotional minute’s applause for their former goalkeeper, Matija Sarkic, who died aged 26 in June. Several players had tears pooling in their eyes for Sarkic, the former Millwall goalkeeper who died on holiday in Budva. Despite a dreadful start, the hosts rallied and while Neco Williams would have had a one-on-one chance to make it 3-0 had his touch been better just after the half-hour to enhance a dream start for Wales, the visitors were fortunate not to have conceded at half-time.

Nikola Krstovic sent a shot wide after collecting a devilish Stefan Mugosa cross on eight minutes. Wales also survived a strong penalty appeal after Stevan Jovetic’s header from a dinked cross struck Ben Davies’s right arm and Davies, who captained Wales with Aaron Ramsey among five to drop to the bench, earlier made a magnificent goalline clearance to file away with the rest of them after a Karl Darlow double save. Oh, and the former Manchester City striker Jovetic cracked the crossbar with an effort from inside his own half.

That his shot from about 50 yards hit the bar and did not beat a stranded Darlow protected the goalkeeper from the ignominy of being lobbed on his Wales debut. At 33, the Leeds goalkeeper became Wales’s oldest debutant. Jovetic, meanwhile, is without a club after winning the Europa Conference League with Olympiakos last season. Lewis Koumas made his first competitive start for his country but took a whack from Milos Brnovic and was withdrawn at the break.

The pitch had survived storms throughout the day but worsened and by the interval it was akin to a hazard-awareness course. Both players’ shirts, shorts and socks, if not more, were fully saturated. Connor Roberts was forced off before half-time with an apparent shoulder injury, Brennan Johnson his replacement.

Somehow Moore did not make it 3-0 on 66 minutes, contriving to miss from three yards out after Davies squared the ball from inside the box. Moore walloped the post in frustration after sliding in and scooping over from close range. A few minutes earlier Williams had another fine chance after the ball dropped in the box. Until then Wales had begun to drop off, with Bellamy introducing Jordan James, who has joined Rennes from his boyhood club Birmingham this summer, in place of Swansea’s Ollie Cooper to presumably gain a greater sense of control.

Montenegro still found it too easy to pick holes in the Wales defence. Vladimir Jovovic wellied a shot against the post from distance and then Darlow saved superbly from Jovetic. Eventually Montenegro got their reward, feasting on some slack defending as Krstovic squared for Camaj to convert from close range.