It was a tall and strong Icelandic side who lined up for the opening match at Crystal Palace last Wednesday, and although GB battled well they were missing the shooting ability of injury victims Ewa Palies and Jeanett Anderson. Iceland ran out 16-27 winners, with GB’s top-scorers being Kelsi Fairbrother with five and Holly Lam-Moores with four. Three days later the two sides met again in Reykjavik, where home advantage proved decisive and Iceland ran out 40- 20 winners.
While disappointed to have lost, GB return to their domestic teams with renewed optimism and focus on their progress towards the 2012 Olympics and beyond. Despite the defeats, there were several positives to come out of the experience, with 16-year-old Nina Heglund playing superbly, as did 23-year-old debutant Marie Gerbron who top-scored for GB in the second match with five goals.
After Saturday’s match, head coach Jesper Holmris said: “It was a very disappointing first half. Our normal strength of spirit was not 100 there, and it affected our performance. But we stepped up at the end of the first half, but it was only acceptable, still not great.
“We’re actually quite happy with our performance, but we let 40 goals in which isn’t great, as the goalkeepers had an off day and the defence was not good. “But we’re not too sad - this is a tough tournament, and Iceland are much stronger than we are - but they aren’t 20 goals better when we’re 100 per cent focused.” In the first match at Crystal Palace, Iceland looked impressive from the start, and it was right winger Hanna Stefansdottir who was the star for the visitors, netting 13 times in an impressive display.
Iceland made a good start and led 7-1 after just a few minutes, but GB responded through captain Lynn McCafferty, while further goals from Kathryn Fudge and Holly Lam-Moores reduced the deficit to just one goal.
But Iceland quickly assumed control through Stefansdottir as they took a 9-6 lead at the first time out. The visitors then notched six unanswered goals in an eight-minute period and continued to dominate, despite a number of fine saves from Britain keeper Sarah Hargreaves. 7-15 behind at half time, GB tightened up in the second half and only lost the final 30 minutes by three goals, 9-12. But Iceland held out for a comfortable victory.
While qualification for the finals is now out of reach, GB will be aiming to turn in strong performances in their final two group games against Austria and France.
