Iceland repeat feat undoes Ukraine

Iceland will participate in next summer's UEFA Women's EURO in Sweden after repeating their 3-2 first-leg triumph against Ukraine to seal a 6-4 aggregate victory.

In front of a women's national record 6,647 supporters in Reykjavik, Sigurdur Eyjolfsson's charges produced an almost-carbon copy of their performance in Sevastopol last week. As then, they were pegged back at 2-2 after having gone two up, before grabbing a third to ease the nerves.

Iceland burst from the starting blocks again, too, Margrét Lára Vidarsdóttir firing into the bottom left corner after connecting with Hallbera Gudný Gísladóttir's cross from the left wing. Just four minutes later Katrín Ómarsdóttir doubled their advantage, turning in Edda Gardarsdóttir's pass to leave Ukraine needing four in the tie.

Iceland clearly had not heeded the warnings from last week, however, and when complacency set in, Ukraine set about a comeback as Vira Dyatel headed in to halve the night's deficit. The visitors piled on the pressure after the interval and the hosts' resistance broke again midway through the second period, Daryna Vorontsova crashing an effort into the top-right corner.

Iceland, brought heavily back to earth, were determined to stop the rot. The next goal was vital and both sides upped the ante, but the spinning coin of fate landed in Iceland's favour as substitute Dagný Brynjarsdóttir – who had been on the pitch merely three minutes – latched onto Hólmfrídur Magnúsdóttir's through ball and tucked in the goal that secured qualification.