Sivakov hails Belarus spirit after opening win

Belarus rode their luck before showing clinical opportunism to make a winning start to their Group A campaign, which left captain Mikhail Sivakov praising the squad's unflinching determination.

Georgi Kondratyev's men spent the majority of their opening game on the back foot as Iceland threatened to make the breakthrough on several occasions in Aarhus. However, they weathered the storm before scoring twice in the final 13 minutes to secure all three points.

"We did it by means of desire. We wanted to win more," said midfielder Sivakov, who acknowledged that goalkeeper Aleksandr Gutor's superb second-half save from Kolbeinn Sigthórsson to keep the match goalless had helped tipped the scales Belarus's way. "When Gutor parried the shot onto the post I told him that would be the turning point and that we would get on a roll and everything would end positively. That turned out to be the case."

Having survived the crisis, Belarus' self-belief swelled, and Andrei Voronkov scored a 77th-minute penalty after Stanislav Dragun's twinkle-toed run had been halted illegally by Aron Gunnarsson. With the Icelandic midfielder already back in the dressing room after being shown a red card, substitute Maksim Skavysh added a second three minutes from time.

"You could say we held out for our chance, as we didn't have many opportunities before we scored," said forward Voronkov. "It was a keenly fought game until the first goal, and the team that scored got the victory. We had a lot of chances at the end, so the winning margin could have been bigger."

A more handsome win would have been harsh on Iceland, who will be keen to exhibit sharper finishing skills in their second group outing against Switzerland in Aalborg on Tuesday. Belarus face host nation Denmark in Aarhus, and following the Danes' opening 1-0 defeat by the Swiss, Carlsberg Sport Man of the Match Sivakov warned against his side resting on their laurels.

"We shouldn't make premature plans and celebrate for long now. We need to get up tomorrow, forget about the victory and prepare for the Denmark game, because it'll be, probably, even more important than this one," said the Wisła Kraków player, who should at least be able to sleep better than he did before the opening fixture.

"Usually I try to have at least a one-hour nap before the game, but this time after lunch I couldn't even have a little snooze. There were thoughts about the first match, its great importance and the need for a result spinning in my head."