Faroe Islands hail rare win against Estonia

The Faroe Islands are celebrating their first UEFA European Championship qualifying victory since beating San Marino in October 1995 following Tuesday's 2-0 win against Estonia in Group C.

A Fródi Benjaminsen penalty and Arnbjørn Hansen's effort on the rebound from another spot kick put the Faroe Islands 2-0 up before Sander Puri's dismissal on 57 minutes closed the door on an Estionian comeback. "It is a great delight for everybody," said the Faroes' Irish coach Brian Kerr. "The fans were fantastic. The players have put in so much effort and we have had so little in return in this group."

It was Kerr's second competitive victory as Faroes coach, following a FIFA World Cup success against Lithuania in September 2009, and represented revenge of sorts for the teams' previous meeting – when his side saw a 1-0 lead become a 2-1 deficit in added time. "We should have had three points in Estonia," insisted Kerr. "We didn't get them. But I'm glad we got them today."

Captain Benjaminsen, whose 43rd-minute goal marked his 65th international appearance, knows that fortune favoured his team, in contrast to Friday's 2-0 home loss to ten-man Slovenia. "We had the luck that we didn't have on Friday, we got two penalties and they didn't score from the chances they had," said the midfielder. "Those are things that have to go for us if we are to win a match."

The Faroe Islands' star man, Silkeborg IF striker Christian Lamhauge Holst, added: "We work extremely hard and we do what we have to do. We know that the teams who play against us here will get opportunities because they are better teams than us, but despite that you can still work small miracles and we did that today. And to be able to make miracles, you must work extremely hard."

The victory capped the end of an era at the Svangaskard Stadion in Toftir: the natural turf pitch, first used for a World Cup qualifier against Belgium in 1992, will now be converted to artificial grass.