Australia 1

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Australia 1

So Near Yet So Far ... But Oh, So, So Close

by Jeremy Ruane

The Football Ferns came within two minutes of recording one of their greatest victories at Townsville's QCB Stadium on April 8, only to succumb to two Australian goals deep in stoppage time as 10,779 fans saw the Matildas score a late, late 2-1 win over their arch-rivals.

It was a heartbreaking way for Jitka Klimkova's team to lose a match in which they were a distant second to their opponents in statistical terms, but clear winners when it came to matters of "AsOne-ness", bravery, courage, defiance, esprit de corps, fearlessness. Little wonder they are immensely proud of their efforts, despite the final outcome on the scoreboard.

Yes, the Matildas ended up claiming the G word in the footballing alphabet - goals, but for an awfully long time in this epic battle, it looked like being the Kiwi bravehearts who would emerge triumphant on that score as well.

For that, they have one player in particular to thank. There were times in this encounter when the Matildas must have thought Victoria Esson's measurements matched that of the target into which they were striving to put the ball - eight feet high, twelve feet wide. She. Was. Immense!

Prior to this fixture, Esson had earned five caps for her country, and hadn't conceded a goal whilst on the pitch in those matches - a record to be proud of, and rightly. How close she came to recording her most famous clean sheet of them all via a string of saves - most were routine, some incredible, and the odd one or three simply defied the laws of physics!

Not far behind her goalkeeper in her willingness to put her body on the line in order to repel all things green and gold was Claudia Bunge, whose plethora of timely tackles, blocks and interceptions inspired her fellow Football Ferns to perform similar deeds as, to a woman, they stood strong, firm, fully committed and unflinching in the face of Australian adversity.

Yes, they made errors, of course they did, and the Matildas came close to exploiting them on many occasions. But the victors will have left the pitch with a new-found respect for their trans-Tasman rivals, every single one of whom gave the impression they'd have died for the cause if need be, wherever the match had taken place - no defensive divas welcome here, thankyou!

'Twas on attack where the Football Ferns began this contest, Paige Satchell intercepting Steph Catley's ball forward inside the first sixty seconds and promptly feeding Hannah Wilkinson, who looked to bring Olivia Chance into play. Alanna Kennedy intervened, but only cleared her lines after the Celtic attacker had harassed her opponent in Australia's penalty area.

"So, they've come to play, have they?", thought the Matildas. 'We'll see about that!" Down the right they streamed, the outstanding Mary Fowler releasing the overlapping - and similarly well-performed - Ellie Carpenter, who stormed into the penalty area before clipping a cross to the near post for Kyah Simon to exploit.

Ali Riley had other ideas, the Football Ferns' captain having tracked her opponent's run across the penalty area. While she cleared the danger on this occasion, it wasn't long before Australia were asking further questions.

In the fourth minute, the recalled Katrina-Lee Gorry combined with the prolific Sam Kerr, who laid the ball back to Fowler. Her ball over the top found Hayley Raso racing through on goal, but hurtling out of the target to avert the danger was Esson, a feat she accomplished in style with a solid block of Raso's shot.

Back to the right flank, and Raso and Carpenter combined this time round, the fullback delivering another cross to the near post which Simon, timing her leap to perfection, headed past the post.

Four minutes later, the Australians forced a corner. Catley's delivery was punched out by Esson towards Simon, who drilled the ball back in towards goal. Katie Bowen was covering the post and cleared the threat, but the ball only got as far as Catley, who whipped in a cross to the near post.

Rising to meet it was veteran defender Clare Polkinghorne, whose thumping header looked in for all money until Esson set the benchmark for all subsequent saves she would make by pulling off an absolute worldie, reaching backwards to somehow paw the ball around the left-hand post - a quite stunning save!

Australia took a few minutes to recover from the shock of not taking a tenth minute lead. During that time, Anna Green earned herself a booking with a thunderous tackle on Raso which left the attacker in no doubt that she had a target on her back.

When they did get themselves back on an even keel, New Zealand's most capped player, Ria Percival, was no longer on the park. As she looked to challenge Fowler, the Football Ferns midfield anchor went one way and her knee another …

It didn't look at all good, and while an initial diagnosis has yet been revealed, such is the likely extent of the injury that, even fifteen months out from the opening fixture, there's little doubt that Percival will be in a race against time to be fit for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup Finals and adding to her 161 caps for her country.

Meikayla Moore hadn't yet replaced Percival when their rivals looked to score again. Fowler clipped an eighteenth minute pass forward which Kennedy met with a glancing header. Esson somehow blocked it with her lower leg, and recovered swiftly to avert the danger.

The Football Ferns were still coming to terms with Percival's absence when the Australians looked to add Riley to the visitors' casualty list. Catley delivered another corner to the near post, and Polkinghorne came flying in towards it, knee raised.

She didn't make contact with the ball, but the head of New Zealand's captain was another matter entirely - it's a wonder Riley wasn't knocked out by the fierce blow! She certainly saw stars, which is more than what Polkinghorne bore witness to, Japanese referee Koizumi Asaka not even seeing fit to book the offender for dangerous play in the twentieth minute.

Back came the Ferns, a rare foray led by Satchell and continued by Wilkinson, whose 25th minute cross sought out the fast-arriving figure of Bowen. Kennedy had other ideas and prevented this particular raid from coming to fruition.

Satchell led another attack on the half-hour - Polkinghorne this time curtailed her progress - after another Australian attack had been launched by goalkeeper Lydia Williams. Carpenter was the recipient of her clearance, the fullback releasing Raso into acres of space down the right. She looked to pick out Kerr on the far post, but Moore wasn't having a bar of it and closed down the threat.

The latest Football Fern to win a championship medal with Liverpool - Sarah Gregorius and Rosie White have also enjoyed that privilege - has bounced back well after a once-in-a-lifetime feat with which she'll always be associated, but when Moore pinged the ball forward in the 32nd minute, she had no inkling that she was providing the assist for the game's opening goal.

Green was the target of her pass, and the fullback allowed it to bounce once before unleashing a fulminating volleyed cross-cum-shot which did all sorts of things in the air as it arced over Williams, then crashed into the far side of the net, a sight which silenced the vast majority of those present, their noise replaced by a collective roar from across the Tasman as Football Ferns fans screamed their houses down with delight!

1-0 up over the old foe, a nation whom the Football Ferns last defeated in October 1994. Could this be the night on which this 31-match hoodoo would end? There have been three close calls since that time - 1-1 draws in Wollongong (2012), Canberra (2013) and Melbourne (2016), the latter a match which saw the Matildas equalise in the 73rd minute. Would this be another?

The Matildas had no intention of it being so, and now had extra resolve to rectify matters. After all, who would want to be a member of the Australian team on the occasion their decades-old unbeaten streak over the old enemy from across the pond came to an end?

"Not I", said Kerr, who pounced on a stray pass from Bowen in the 35th minute and released Carpenter at pace down the right, before herself

racing forward in anticipation of a cross. The fullback was caught in two minds, however, as the space she found herself in, combined with the tale being told by the scoreboard, had Carpenter asking herself the 'Dirty Harry' question, "Do I feel lucky?"

There was no Colt 44 Magnum pointing in her direction, but Carpenter clearly didn't feel that tonight was going to be her night, because what she delivered was something between a cross and a shot, a ball which Esson grabbed greedily.

Bunge got away with one in the 36th minute, her desire to get her clutches on Kerr's jersey well before the final whistle completely missed by referee Asaka. The striker was well miffed at the oversight, but was involved in the play again five minutes before half-time, the beneficiary of a lucky break.

Kerr's cross sought out Simon, but Emily Van Egmond's intervention took it away from her team-mate, seconds after a Riley clearance had ricocheted off a black-shirted team-mate to Raso, whose bid to equalise was thwarted by Bunge's timely block.

On the stroke of half-time, Van Egmond sent the ball sailing over the bar on receipt of a headed clearance from Daisy Cleverley, while 28 seconds into the second spell, half-time substitute Caitlin Foord, on the occasion of her one hundredth appearance in green and gold, cut inside and let fly, only for Esson to intervene in her by now customary manner.

The Football Ferns squandered a glorious chance to double their lead sixty seconds later. Wilkinson pounced on a poor clearance and slipped Chance in on goal through the inside right channel, a position from which she should have hit the target at the very least. But she fired wide of Williams' goal …

A let-off for the Matildas, who wasted little time in getting the ball back in the area of the pitch they preferred. Kennedy's raking clearance sent Raso racing in behind the defence on the right in the 48th minute, Esson finding herself facing another one-on-one situation. As in the first half, she stood her ground well and blocked superbly amid gasps of dismay from the Matildas' faithful.

A clash of heads between Moore and Foord left both players needing treatment soon after, but once play could continue, the Australians continued to pound away at their rivals' goal, only to encounter two women who refused to be beaten.

Carpenter and Gorry set up Fowler for a 58th minute shot which Esson smothered, while Gorry pinged one over the top for the same player seconds later, Fowler brilliantly beating Bowen before Bunge blocked her attempted cross.

This resulted in a corner, Catley's delivery arcing right into the heart of the goalmouth. Esson pawed it away, but only as far as Foord, whose fierce drive crashed against the crossbar, over which Esson tipped a twenty yard drive from Fowler seconds later after Gorry and Kerr had combined to launch Australia's next attack.

For someone who became a Mum just seven months ago, Gorry has made an amazing return to the international stage, and she looked to crown it with a goal in the 62nd minute. Alas for her, the flesh was willing, but the finish was weak, not to mention wayward.

Kennedy closed down a rare raid by Wilkinson soon afterwards, before normal service resumed, this time via Foord, who took advantage of a Liz Anton error, only for Bunge to block her shot brilliantly.

Carpenter and Gorry combined next, Kerr their chosen beneficiary. Esson was well up to this test, but when she came to deal with a Van Egmond cross soon after, Bunge rose in front of her to head the ball away. In doing so, she directed it to Raso who, with the goal at her mercy, simply had to score. Incredibly, Bunge got back to clear her shot off the line - was it destined to be New Zealand's night at long last?

Not if Catley could help it. Her searching corners were causing the Football Ferns a few headaches, and in the 72nd minute, she delivered one onto the head of Kerr, who beat Esson in the air. Much to the 'keeper's relief, the ball landed on the roof of the net.

A rare attacking foray by the Ferns three minutes later resulted in Bowen's free-kick being plucked off the head of Moore by Williams, the goalkeeper's last noteworthy contribution to a contest which, for the bulk of the time remaining, was played out largely in New Zealand's defensive third.

A Kerr header, from another Catley corner, was blocked by Van Egmond, while Esson was right behind a twenty-five yarder from Gorry eleven minutes from time. Two minutes later, Van Egmond sent Kerr scampering through the inside right channel, and after luring Esson out of goal she slipped the ball across to Kennedy, arriving in between two defenders. She somehow contrived to fire wide when scoring appeared both easier and inevitable.

Again Australia advanced, Catley and Kerr collaborating for the benefit of Raso. Her cross was diverted to safety via the angle of her own goal by the retreating figure of Bunge, who received some welcome words of encouragement from Moore in the immediate aftermath - been there, done that, got the t-shirt!

The Matildas regrouped, intent on one final concerted charge which, they hoped, would be sufficient to stave off a defeat by the old foe which was looming larger by the second. Two minutes from time, Esson confidently dealt with a Foord curler, while the goalkeeper looked on with relief soon after as another Catley corner caused consternation aplenty, and an almighty scramble, until Kerr headed the ball the wrong side of the upright from Australia's perspective.

Three minutes into the five stoppage time minutes signalled, Anton and Jale combined to stifle Foord's latest bid to level the scores, an ambition Australia finally fulfilled in the 94th minute, much to the Football Ferns' despair.

Carpenter was still full of running - unquestionably one of the finest fullbacks in women's football the world over, and with Catley, Gorry and Fowler the pick of a Matildas team which was about to live its "Never Say Die" mantra at New Zealand's expense once more.

On this occasion, she scooted down the right before angling a low cross back towards the penalty spot. Arriving on cue was Van Egmond, who steered a shot beyond the diving figure of Esson and into the far corner of the net - 1-1, after 94 minutes of a trans-Tasman women's footballing epic.

The locals roared loud and proud in response, and they were roaring louder still two minutes later when the Matildas clinched victory with the last touch of the game. Bunge executed a superb tackle to deny substitute Courtney Vine, but at the expense of a corner, and it was from Catley's 96th minute delivery that Kiwi hearts were broken.

As she had done all night, Esson came off her line to deal with the danger posed by the fullback's set-piece prowess, and duly punched the ball off the head of Kennedy at the near post.

She didn't connect as cleanly as she would have preferred, however, and that was all Kerr needed to come flying in and, with a stooping six yard header, guide the ball into the back of the net to complete a quite remarkable come-from-behind 2-1 victory for Australia's most loved women's sports team.

To a woman, the broken-hearted Football Ferns' spirits sunk. Tears flowed, unashamedly. They had given everything in their quest for a rare win over a team which, in truth, has been far superior to them for the best part of thirty years, and very nearly caused a seismic shock in the world of women's football.

They were on this occasion also, but the result very nearly didn't reflect the fact, something which Jitka Klimkova's charges must cling on to and believe they can better or at least repeat - and certainly build upon - when these teams meet again in Canberra on Tuesday evening.

Australia: Williams; Carpenter, Kennedy, Polkinghorne, Catley; Fowler (Yallop, 78), Gorry, Van Egmond; Raso (Vine, 90), Kerr, Simon (Foord, 46)

Football Ferns: Esson; Riley, Bowen, Bunge, Green (booked, 14) (Anton, 46); Cleverley (Steinmetz, 76), Percival (Moore, 19), Hassett (Rennie, 46); Satchell (Collins, 76), Wilkinson, Chance (Jale, 87)

Referee: Koizumi Asaka (Japan)

Football Ferns build-up