Gudmundsson, Ormarsson give Iceland upper hand

Almarr Ormarsson's spectacular late strike gave Iceland the edge over Scotland going into the second leg of their UEFA European Under-21 Championship play-off tie in Edinburgh on Monday.

Having suffered a blow to their hopes in the warm-up when first-choice goalkeeper Haraldur Björnsson suffered an ankle injury, Iceland received another on 19 minutes as Jamie Murphy gave the visitors the lead. However, the 7,255-strong crowd at the Laugardalsvöllur national stadium – a record for a U21 game in Iceland – were celebrating a quarter of an hour later thanks to Johann Gudmundsson, and were on their feet again 12 minutes from time after substitute Ormarsson rifled a 30-metre strike into the top corner.

It was also Iceland who fashioned the first chance of the tie on 14 minutes, Alan Martin producing a double save to deny Kolbeinn Sigthórsson and Gylfi Sigurdsson, yet then Murphy broke through to put Billy Stark's men ahead. Undeterred, Iceland pushed on and after Martin touched Sigthórsson's header wide, Gudmundsson picked up a loose ball on the right and equalised from 25 metres.

Sigurdsson tested Martin again five minutes into the second half having weaved his way past several Scotland players, and soon after Sigthórsson's header narrowly cleared the crossbar. With the game entering the closing stages, Iceland coach Eyjölfur Sverrisson replaced Birkir Bjarnason with Ormarsson, a decision that paid off five minutes later as the Fram Reykjavík player struck a goal to remember from distance.