Australia have suffered a frustrating defeat to England, beaten 3-0 after being reduced to 10 women and a goal down inside 20 minutes.
The early red card for Alanna Kennedy, dismissed after 19 minutes for denying a goalscoring opportunity, left the Matildas up against it in Derby, their task made even tougher when the European champions scored from the resultant free kick.
England added a second before the break, but Australia held out until deep into injury-time, when a penalty was harshly awarded by the VAR and converted.
In the circumstances it was hard for Sam Kerr, seeking her first international goal since returning from a near two-year absence, to shine in the 69 minutes she had, but she nearly produced an equaliser out of nothing when given a rare opportunity.
It wasn’t easy for anyone else either, but Mackenzie Arnold’s handling was impeccable, while Steph Catley and Winonah Heatley led the defiance in defence.
“We always fight to the end, that’s the Aussie spirit, but it is hard to come back from losing a player so early, it’s one of the hardest things in a game, especially against a world-class team” the Matildas’ Ellie Carpenter said.
The red card and subsequent goal made pre-match talk of revenge for defeat by England in the Women’s World Cup semi-final in Sydney two years ago irrelevant.
More significant anyway, as Joe Montemurro builds towards the Asian Cup in four months, were the five changes from the team that beat Wales 2-1 in Cardiff on Saturday.
Arnold, Carpenter, Catley, Kennedy and Amy Sayer came in, and Kerr reclaimed the captain’s armband.
It looked a stronger XI, but Montemurro admitted the Matildas didn’t start the game well.
England, despite a raft of changes including two debutants, dominated the ball, with Arnold forced to make a trio of saves, and when she was beaten, after Clare Hunt failed to cut out a simple pass, the offside flag rescued her.
Ironically, the first time the visitors managed a spell of sustained possession it cost them. Passing the ball around the back, Kennedy tried to evade pressure with a Cruyff turn but lost possession to Alessia Russo.
As the England centre-forward advanced towards goal, Kennedy hauled her back for what looked a clear red card.
“I can’t comment about referees, but it looked interesting because we did feel there was a player very close and behind Alanna,” Montemurro said.
To make it worse, after Aggie Beever-Jones drove the free kick into the wall, Lucy Bronze laid it back to her and she rifled her second attempt into the top corner.
Brazil more than matched England when they went down to 10 players at the weekend, but the Lionesses had learned from that. They moved the ball well and penned Australia back.
However, the next chance fell to Kerr, created by some smart interplay with Carpenter in the 27th minute. Hannah Hampton made a sharp save with her foot at the near post.
Kerr might have had another opportunity had Caitlin Foord released her more quickly after winning possession near the halfway line. When the ball was eventually worked to the skipper, Bronze prevented her shooting.
Five minutes later Bronze, on her 34th birthday, was taking a shot herself, whipping the ball past Arnold following Ella Toone’s cutback.
At 2-0 down with 40 minutes gone and with 10 players against a team in the mood for goals, it seemed Australia could be heading for a heavy defeat.
That, though, was one of the last times Australia were cut open. Arnold saved well from Kiera Walsh and Georgia Stanway, Catley diverted a Lucia Kendall header on to the bar, but the Lionesses were otherwise blunted until the last minute.
Then, after Katrina Gorry had clipped Missy Bo Kearns in the box with her tackle follow-through, but after the midfielder had played the ball out of play, the referee was suddenly told to head for the screen by the VAR.
The penalty, which no one had appealed for, was smacked home by Stanway.
“We take it as a massive learning curve for us,” Montemurro said.
“We walk away disappointed, but there is still belief in this group.”
