Australia’s Matildas recorded their 21st successive victory over New Zealand’s Football Ferns in a behind-closed-doors friendly at Gosford’s Bluetongue Stadium on May 12, prevailing 3-0 to repeat the scoreline recorded on the last two occasions these nations met, in Auckland in February 2010. Hannah Wilkinson squandered a glorious chance to open the scoring for the Football Ferns, skying the ball over the bar from six yards with the goal at her mercy inside the first ten minutes. Sixteen-year-old debutant Caitlin Foord mercilessly punished such profligacy by opening the scoring from ten yards for the Matildas in the tenth minute, becoming the youngest scorer in that team’s international history in doing so. It was that sort of clinical finishing which was a key factor between the teams come the final whistle. "Australia edged it class-wise", said Football Ferns coach, John Herdman, afterwards. "We had a couple of good opportunities which we failed to take, while Australia were a bit more ruthless in front of goal and took their chances well - one was a world-class thirty yarder. "Generally, it was a tough day at the office, but that said, we had a really good spell after half-time, twenty minutes of sustained pressure during which Rosie White got through on goal but sliced her effort wide of the target. Had we equalised then, it could well have been a different game …" Instead, the Asian champions struck twice in the last eleven minutes, W-League Player of the Year Kyah Simon’s long-range screamer supplemented five minutes from time by Leena Khamis’ close-range strike which capped off the scoring moments after both Khamis and substitute Sam Kerr had struck the woodwork for the Matildas. On a day Katie Bowen (left) made her Football Ferns debut as a half-time substitute, another milestone was achieved by captain Rebecca Smith, who becomes the ninth player in the history of New Zealand’s national women’s team to clock up fifty "A" international appearances for her country. "There were quite a few valuable lessons for us

to take from that match", said Herdman, "chief of which is our option-taking - that needs improving. But when we’re cohesive and organised, we can compete, frustrate our opponents and cause them plenty of problems. Things will be a lot closer on Sunday". New Zealand’s workmanlike display was enhanced by the strongly performed Anna Green, who continued the impressive form she showed throughout the Cyprus Cup campaign in March. "She showed she can really compete at this level", enthused Herdman, who opted to rest reigning International Women’s Player of the Year Ali Riley from this match as she nurses a hamstring twinge. Matildas’ coach, Tom Sermanni, was delighted with his team’s display, their first since a 2-1 loss to reigning world champions Germany last October. "When you consider that we’ve had no real match practice before today and New Zealand are coming off the back of four games in March, to come out and perform this well is very pleasing. "We had pretty much four debutants tonight in the side in Catherine Cannuli, Caitlin Foord, Laura Alleway and Emily Van Egmond, who have only played a few minutes each at international level. All four players stood the test, and for Foord to score such an outstanding goal on debut is just fantastic. "You can’t really pick fault with the performance today, the team worked exceptionally well and the three goals were very well taken". The Matildas and the Football Ferns do it all again at Bluetongue Stadium on Sunday from 5pm NZ time, as both countries continue their preparations for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Finals in Germany in less than fifty days’ time. Delayed same-day coverage of the match can be seen on Sky Sports 3 from 8.30pm. Matildas:     Williams; Polkinghorne, Carroll (Uzunlar, 67), Alleway, Perry; Luik, Ledbrook, Van Egmond; Foord (Kerr, 79), Khamis, Cannuli (Simon, 74) F’ball Ferns:     Bindon; Wall (booked) (Bowen, 46), Erceg, Smith, Green (booked); Percival (White, 66), Moorwood (Chance, 84), Yallop (Hoyle, 46), Hassett; Hearn (Gregorius, 90), Wilkinson (Kete, 66) Referee:     Jacqui Melksham