Amber Hearn scored New Zealand's equaliser to force a penalty shootout against Iceland at the Algarve Cup in Portugal.

New Zealand's Football Ferns have been denied the bronze medal at the Algarve Cup after losing a penalty shootout to Iceland.

The scores were locked at 1-1 at the end of 90 minutes on Thursday (NZ time).

No extra time was played with penalties immediately ordered to break the deadlock at the tournament in Portugal.

New Zealand lost the shootout 6-5, leaving them "bitterly disappointed".

It had gone the way of the spot-kickers through to 5-5 until New Zealand's Anna Green missed. Iceland then scored to win and take third place.

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The Football Ferns were using the well-respected tournament as a key component in their buildup towards the Rio Olympics.

New Zealand, ranked No 16 in the world, fell behind in the 27th minute when Andrea Ran Hanksdottir found the back of the net for 19th-ranked Iceland.

The Football Ferns worked long and hard in their search for an equaliser and it eventually came in the 71st minute through a strong strike from Amber Hearn whose shot went across the reach of the keeper.

The Football Ferns also had a strong claim for penalty waved away in the second half after a heavy challenge on Betsy Hassett in the Iceland area while several free kick opportunities came and went in the dying stages as the New Zealand side pressed for the winner.

Hearn, Rosie White, Rebekah Stott, Ria Percival, and Betsy Hassett were all successful with their penalty kicks in the shootout.

New Zealand coach Tony Readings felt his team found a higher level after a mixed first half performance but that still wasn't enough.

"We didn't play as well in the first half as we would have liked. We were a bit under par but were still the better team but we weren't as dominant as we should have been," Readings said.

"We've gone in 1-0 down but we knew we had an extra two or three gears to go up and we'd be able to claw our way back in the second half which we did.

"We're bitterly disappointed because we dominated that second half, they've hardly got in our half.



"We scored a great goal and then we had a definite penalty turned down, we missed one-on-ones and we've had lots of crosses and set plays and we've not been able to get the breakthrough. That's been the story of the tournament for us."

Readings again underlined the need for the team to find a sharper cutting edge in and around the opposition penalty area with the Olympics looming.

"That inability to make that dominance count is still holding us back. There are some signs of improvement but we need more.



"By the Olympics we need to be a better team in that part of the game because we did so well in so many parts but the part that makes the biggest difference is putting the ball in the net and that's something we've got to be better at."

In the other Algarve Cup playoffs Belgium beat Russia 5-0 for fifth place and Denmark downed Portugal 3-1 for seventh place.

Canada beat Brazil 2-1 in the final to take the title.