The Icelandic national team in women’s handball were defeated by Montenegro, 16:26, in their first game in the Euro 2012 Championships in Serbia last night.

Iceland goalkeeper Guðný Jenný Ásmundsdóttir said that the team’s defense was not up to scratch. “We had big problems in attack and in the end our defense was far below par,” she is quoted as saying on the website of the European Handball Federation.

Iceland coach Ágúst Jóhannsson was also unhappy about the team’s performance. “While Montenegro were very good and made life difficult for us, we showed a weak performance, especially in attack,” he said.

Iceland’s next game is tonight (19:15 GMT) when they will come up against Romania, the first match between the two countries in a major international tournament.

And Ágúst says they will have their work cut out for them. “Now we have a lot of things to work on if we want to have a chance against Romania. If we want to win some points, we need to play much better. ”

As top scorer (five goals), Rakel Dögg Bragadóttir was awarded best player of the match.

ZR