Iceland’s 2-0 win at the Ballymena Showgrounds last Friday has put them in pole position to win the Women’s Nations League Play-Off battle and retain their place in League A.
After that game, Northern Ireland manager Tanya Oxtoby was adamant that her team was still in the tie.
The players, too, are of the belief that their opportunity to earn promotion to the top-tier of the Nations League for the first time isn’t gone.
“We were chuffed with the performance on Friday night and we’re hoping to come into the game with a lot to give,” said defender Natalie Johnson.
“We’ve learnt a lot over the last few days and this is a contest that we’re very much still in, so the girls are going to give it their all.
“We believe we’re still in this tie.”
We’ve learnt a lot over the last few days and this is a contest that we’re very much still in.
A two-goal deficit is far from unassailable, however for a country that has never beaten Iceland, not even scored in any of the previous meetings and, as stats showed, didn’t register a shot on target on Friday, history isn’t on Northern Ireland’s side.
The nature of Iceland’s first-leg goals was a source of frustration for Oxtoby and her players, both coming from headers at set-pieces.
Even going back to the previous meeting at the Pinatar Cup in Spain back in 2020, that 1-0 defeat was due to a freak goal when Dagny Brynarsdottir, who also scored against Northern Ireland in 2011, beat Jackie Burns with a looping cross from the right wing.
It is those preventable goals that Oxtoby must now prevent as well as come up with a plan to put the ball in the net at the other end – and if Northern Ireland can score against Iceland for the first time without conceding, then the tie will take on a very different complexion with a momentum shift.
Northern Ireland’s Joely Andrews jostles with Iceland counterpart Ingibjörg Sigurdardóttir in Ballymena
That’s where Oxtoby’s team selection in Reykjavík will prove crucial.
Whether it was the manager’s instructions at half-time or the introductions of the returning Sarah McFadden and Kerry Beattie, as well as debutante Mia Moore at the hour mark, that had the impact, Northern Ireland were much more of an attacking threat in the final 30 minutes of Friday’s game than in the opening 60.
All three could start this time and Rebecca Holloway is almost certain to come in now that she is free from suspension.
That would mean altering a defence that coped with everything that Iceland had to offer in open play. There are, however, positives in that.
Nadene Caldwell, who impressed in an unfamiliar central defensive role, can move up into midfield, and with the qualities that she has, her presence there would allow others to roam forward more freely.
With at least two goals needed, that is fundamental to whatever plan Oxtoby rolls out.
Northern Ireland defender Rebecca McKenna looks to control the ball under pressure from Iceland’s Hlín Eiríksdóttir
Although Danielle Maxwell was listed among the substitutes on Friday, she didn’t actually take her place on the bench but could play this time and her creative threat, along with Leyla McFarland, who also made her debut, are weapons that it would be folly to ignore in the situation where a comeback is needed.
Whatever happens for a squad that showed seven changes from the last game and 10 out of the 24 players still in single figures in terms of caps Johnson, who with six caps is one of those, is looking further forward than just the next 90 minutes of football.
I think the combination of that experience coming back in and the fresh faces, it stands us in really good stead.
“The girls that have come in for their first time have been brilliant, they fit right in both on and off the pitch,” she said.
“Having the likes of Sarah McFadden back adds a whole other level of experience and depth.
“I think the combination of that experience coming back in and the fresh faces, it stands us in really good stead, not just for this game but moving forward.”
If that move forward is to break new ground in League A, those other firsts must happen.