It was always going to be a tough task for a depleted Northern Ireland side to reach the top tier of the Nations League for the first time against a side who have been in League A for all the previous editions of the competition and recently qualified for Euro 2025.

A lot was made of Iceland’s recent record of just one win in the last 12 months prior to Friday’s first leg, but the are still a side ranked 27 places above NI in the world rankings, one who beat Germany on their way to qualifying for the Euros and who narrowly lost 4-3 to Norway in the Euros in the summer.

Northern Ireland also had their well-documented injury problems in defence and up front with star striker and captain Simone Magill missing. As a result, it was a makeshift defence marshalled by captain Nadene Caldwell, a midfielder by trade, and a youthful looking midfield and attack spearheaded by Emily Wilson and Kascie Weir, who struggled to impact the game.

While Iceland squandered a number of chances to take the lead earlier than they did, Northern Ireland will be disappointed with the goals they did give away.

Towering defender Viggosdottir was given time and space in the box to get on the end of the free-kick and head beyond Burns, while Sigurdardottir emerged through a crowded penalty box to nod home a corner.

NI struggled to tame the excellent Jonsdottir, who was unlucky to hit the post and the crossbar, but, especially in the first half, when cross after cross came into the box, they defended the majority of them really well and in Nadene Caldwell’s words to the media on Thursday, understood that they needed to be “comfortable with being uncomfortable”.

Maintaining possession in the Iceland half as they pushed to get back in the game proved more of a challenge for Oxtoby’s young squad, although she showed faith by throwing on debutants Mia Moore and Layla McFarland as-well-as fellow teenager Aimee Kerr when searching for a goal.

Their inability to fashion a shot on target shows how difficult it will be for them to get back in the game out in Iceland.

Caldwell had also said pre-game that after the first leg, NI would know how far they are off some of the top sides.

A bit off Iceland, but maybe not as far off as they were against League A-bound Poland and Norway with a chance to rectify that in the second leg in four days’ time.