It was snow joke for Oxtoby and her players in Reykjavík. A whiteout across the Icelandic capital forced the postponement of the second leg of their Play-Off tie, and 24 hours later in a different venue Northern Ireland suffered a 3-0 defeat on the night to leave them beaten 5-0 on aggregate.
It wasn’t clear exactly who Oxtoby’s sideswipe was aimed at. After the initial postponement and before confirmation that the match would go ahead a day late, the manager described Tuesday as ‘a challenging day.’
While images emerged of players having fun in the snow and enjoying the spectacle of the Northern Lights on an unexpected day off, Oxtoby reflected on a ‘really, really difficult’ situation and criticised the level of professionalism surrounding the rearrangement of the game, which eventually took place on an artificial pitch in the mini-stadium behind the main national stadium at Laugardalsvöllur.
“I’m super proud of the group – players and staff. What we’ve had to endure over the last three or four days has been really, really difficult,” said Oxtoby.
“I think there’s a long way for the women’s game to come in terms of the professionalism and the way in which things are done.
“For the group to perform the way they did – I know at home people might not have that context but the country should be super proud of the players after what they’ve had to deal with over the last couple of days.”
With a 2-0 deficit to try to claw back, Northern Ireland were much more of an attacking threat in the first half than they had been throughout the first game. Momentum switched, though, and Iceland had been starting to control proceedings before Sveindís Jane Jónsdóttir’s 32nd minute header effectively killed the tie as a contest.
Northern Ireland’s Caragh Hamilton tries to get away from three Iceland defenders
Hlín Eiríksdóttir, with the fourth headed goal of the tie, landed another blow just before the hour mark and Emilía Kiær Ásgeirsdóttir’s penalty 17 minutes from time meant a record win for Iceland over Northern Ireland.
For now, at least, Nations League A is a step beyond Northern Ireland, and whether that gap is ever bridged remains to be seen.
Iceland dominated in terms of possession and chances but only one of the five goals across the two games was scored from open play, and that gave a mixture of pride in the performance of the defence while also frustration that the goals could have been prevented.
It is at the other end that the major work needs to be done as in six games against top level opposition over the last year – twice against each of Norway, Poland and Iceland – Northern Ireland haven’t managed to score a goal.
Oxtoby continues to have faith in her players having seen a major development of a squad that is now very much her own while still having an element of experience from the past.
“The journey we’ve been on, when I think of what I walked into when I started to now is night and day, and I’m always proud of them,” she said.
“Their effort is exceptional. I think their application to do what we’re asking is nothing short of extraordinary.
“There are small areas for us, particularly in possession, that we need to continue to develop and I think that just comes with a bit of time.
“The players know themselves the areas we need to be better at, but we can’t click our fingers and change that. We’ve just got to keep working, we’ve got to stick together.
“The morale of this group is better than it’s ever been. The desire is better than it’s ever been.
“I said at the start of the tie we would know where we sit and we do now – and we’ve got work to do.”