Northern Ireland held on for a narrow friendly victory over Iceland despite playing for more than half an hour with 10 men.
The hosts had taken the lead through Isaac Price’s 36th-minute strike and came close to extending their advantage on several occasions either side of the break before Brodie Spencer was dismissed 12 minutes into the second half.
The Huddersfield Town defender was the last man when he pulled back Hakon Arnar Haraldsson, with Danish referee Morten Krogh quick to brandish the red card.
But the hosts defended stoutly with Price clearing an Andri Gudjohnsen header off the line and then, in added time, Isak Bergmann Johannesson was denied by an excellent save from Pierce Charles.
It confirmed a battling victory that boss Michael O’Neill will hope gives his side momentum heading into their first 2026 World Cup qualifying fixture away to Luxembourg in September.
Isaac Price has scored seven goals in his past seven appearances for Northern Ireland
Returning home after Saturday’s 2-1 defeat by Denmark, Northern Ireland will have expected to make use of the Windsor Park advantage.
Yet, after former heroes Jonny Evans and Steven Davis were honoured just before kick-off, the crowd were quickly silenced by an efficient Iceland outfit.
Fresh off beating Scotland 3-1 at Hampden Park, the visitors took any sting out of the opening exchanges without asking much of Pierce Charles in the home goal.
In terms of their own spells in possession, the hosts’ efforts will have felt disappointingly similar to their defeat in Copenhagen as, too often, they were quickly caught on the ball and turned over.
The spark that brought the game to life came with O’Neill switching Conor Bradley from right wing-back into a more attacking position, with the Liverpool man almost making an instant impact.
With his side suddenly more threatening, it was only moments later when, nine minutes before half-time, Price picked the ball up, drifted inside from the left and curled a low effort into the bottom corner.
The West Bromwich Albion man, who scored a hat-trick on this ground against Bulgaria in October, celebrated his ninth international goal – the same number as George Best and Norman Whiteside netted for the country.
A team transformed, Northern Ireland came close to doubling their lead in first-half injury time when Ross County striker Ronan Hale was denied a debut goal by the crossbar and Price fired the rebound over.
Ronan Hale saw an effort come back off the crossbar in added time at the end of the first half
