Czech Republic's hopes of qualifying for Euro 2016 were handed a massive boost as they stretched their lead at the top of Group A to three points with a 2-1 victory at home to Iceland.
The game began horrendously for the hosts as captain Petr Cech gifted the visitors the lead in the eighth minute as he charged from his goal but got nowhere near a long throw in, leaving the unmarked Ragnar Sigurdsson with the simple task of nodding the ball into the back of the net from six yards out.
Thereafter, Iceland sat back and invited pressure from the hosts. Ladislav Krejci should have done better than drag a shot wide from close range before David Lafata saw his low shot saved at the near post by Hannes Halldorsson.
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However, five minutes before the break Kolbeinn Sigthorsson came agonisingly close to doubling his side's lead when put through one-on-one, but Pavel Kaderabek's last ditch challenge deflected the ball behind for a corner.
Kaderabek then went one better as he levelled the game up in first-half stoppage time with a thumping header after Daniel Pudil's stretch kept a deep free kick in play.
The hosts came flying out the blocks in the second period and Krejci, Tomas Sivok and Lafata all went close within 10 minutes of the restart.
When they did eventually take the lead for the first time in the game, the goal came in incredibly fortuitous circumstances.
Jaroslav Plasil raced onto a through-ball and attempted to cut the ball back from the byline, but it deflected first off the outstretched leg of Jon Dadi Bodvarsson and then into the net via a hapless Halldorsson.
Gylfi Sigurdsson almost levelled immediately, but his volley crashed against the foot of the post and rebounded to safety off the back of a prone Cech.
Halldorsson then had Kari Arnason to thank after the defender hooked Michael Kadlec's header off the line with his goalkeeper in no man's land.
After going a goal down, Iceland struggled to alter to predominantly defensive mentality and didn't threaten Cech in the latter stages as the hosts held on to secure their fourth group stage win to prompt jubilant celebrations from the home side.
Kristian Johnson
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