Australia 1

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Australia 1

Young Matildas Hand Junior Ferns A Hiding

by Jeremy Ruane

Australia's Young Matildas scored their biggest ever victory over the Junior Football Ferns on April 6, handing out a 5-1 hiding to their trans-Tasman rivals at Canberra's Deakin Stadium in the first of two encounters between the nations as they prepare for the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Finals in Costa Rica later this year.

The natives hit the ground running from the off, and were rewarded with the opening goal just eighty seconds into the clash. Sharon Hunter's corner wasn't cleared, and Jyana Dos Santos responded with interest, ramming home a twenty-yarder via the underside of the crossbar, the ball bouncing up into the roof of the net.

Six minutes later, Hunter, the game's most dominant performer, caught the Junior Ferns' star turn, Charlotte Wilford-Carroll, in possession and unleashed a long-range effort which arced narrowly past the far post.

New Zealand responded via a probing Kate Taylor pass which sent Ava Pritchard surging through the Australian defence and left the striker one-on-one with Chloe Lincoln. The 'keeper did well to block the effort, but Pritchard should have done better - it was a great chance to equalise.

Taylor's next involvement saw the Young Matildas double their advantage halfway through the half. The Junior Ferns' captain's trailing leg felled Daniela Galic in the penalty area, giving New Zealand referee Anna-Marie Keighley an easy decision to make.

Hunter finished with aplomb from the penalty spot, and was only denied a second goal by extreme bad luck five minutes later. Dos Santos weaved her way past two challenges before being stopped in her tracks by Wilford-Carroll's tackle.

The ball broke to Hunter, whose twenty-five yard drive arced over the head of Brianna Edwards before striking the underside of the crossbar and the inside of the 'keeper's right-hand post then rebounding back into play! Try explaining that one using the laws of physics! Remarkable!

Unperturbed, Hunter was in the thick of things again in the 28th minute. Her quickly-taken free-kick picked out the run of captain Sheridan Gallagher in behind the New Zealand defence, and after controlling the ball she lofted it over both Edwards and the crossbar - a top chance spurned.

The Junior Ferns were rarely seen as an attacking force in this contest, and much of it was of their own doing. Gemma Lewis' charges were all too often guilty of conceding possession in their own half of the pitch, and very often in their defensive third, frequently bringing pressure upon themselves by looking to play out from the back in a manner one sees when children are being taught how to play the game, i.e. the use of short goal kicks.

That's all well and good at midget and junior level, but it's certainly not what you expect to see unfolding in the middle of an international, and repeatedly at that! Australia quickly cottoned on to this frankly bizarre carry-on, and forced a lot of mistakes as a result.

That the final score was only 5-1 in light of this carry-on was more than a tad fortunate from the Junior Ferns' perspective, but if this is an example of what is being encouraged in the behind closed doors world of the Future Ferns Development Programme … Gordon Bennett!!

Nine minutes before half-time, Edwards dashed out to save at the feet of Kahli Johnson, as she pursued Gallagher's through ball. The Young Matildas' skipper then busted a 39th minute challenge from an out-of-form Marisa van der Meer, the ball breaking for Galic, who cut inside before curling a shot around Edwards and into the far side of the net - 3-0.

Two minutes later, Gallagher and Johnson worked a cute one-two in the penalty area, before Galic's lob was headed narrowly past the far post by Australia's captain, who was a handful for the Kiwi defence throughout the contest.

Right on half-time, the Junior Ferns got themselves back into the contest on the scoreboard via

Charlotte Lancaster, who latched onto a loose ball before battering a twenty-five yarder over the head of Lincoln and into the far corner of the net for the goal of the match.

It gave Lewis' charges something to cling to, but the way they were playing meant that players of an attack-minded nature - second half substitute Alyssa Whinham, for example, were largely starved of the sphere because the supply lines were being cut off by the Australians long before the ball got anywhere near them.

Instead, much of the second half action was again focused in the Junior Ferns' half of the pitch, with van der Meer redeeming herself in the 51st minute, her timely intervention doing just enough to put Johnson off as she powered through the middle towards goal.

Two minutes later, the Young Matildas applied route one football, Lincoln's raking clearance inviting Johnson to storm through the inside left channel and let fly from twenty yards, an effort which wasn't far away.

The goal the striker desired was mere seconds away, however. Taylor felled her inside the penalty area as the Junior Ferns again failed in their bid to play out from the back, and referee Keighley again pointed to the spot, from where Johnson duly made it 4-1 in the 55th minute.

How it wasn't 5-1 seconds later Lord alone knows! Taylor tackled Gallagher, but the ball broke kindly for Johnson, leaving her one-on-one with Edwards. The striker slipped her shot past the 'keeper, only to see it hit the post. Gallagher latched onto the rebound and let fly, but the recovering goalkeeper produced a super save to keep out her effort.

It was only staving off the inevitable, however, and from Hunter's resulting uncleared corner, Gallagher's cheeky back-heeled finish gave the Young Matildas a nap hand - 5-1, with over half-an-hour still to play.

Edwards denied both Hunter and her midfield partner in crime, Hannah Jones, just after the hour mark, and looked on with relief in the 72nd minute as Johnson blazed a shot over the bar after storming clear on the left.

Fourteen minutes from time, the Junior Ferns mounted a rare attack, with half-time substitute Milly Clegg to the fore. Her run and cross to the far post found fellow substitute Olivia Ingham arriving on cue, only for Lincoln to pull off a brilliant save to deny her.

Zoe McMeeken, another substitute, latched onto the rebound and drove the ball into the goalmouth where Clegg saw her shot blocked. Australia scrambled the ball to safety, and were next to threaten four minutes from time when Johnson once more surged towards goal, this time through the inside right channel. The covering challenge of Jana Niedermayr brought an end to her progress this time round.

A lot of the intensity in the match went out of the game once the Young Matildas started making changes to their starting eleven in the last twenty minutes of the match, but before the final whistle they sought to bolster their advantage once more through Johnson, who looked to exploit to the full Isabel Gomez's probing ball forward as the game entered stoppage time.

Taylor's intervention curtailed those prospects, but the Junior Ferns have an awful lot of work to do and many improvements to make before they take on the world's best in Costa Rica in August, starting in four days' time when they meet the Young Matildas in Australia's capital once again, this time at Viking Park on Sunday afternoon.

Australia: Lincoln; Rue, Chinama, Ferris (Tonkin, 46), Ilijoski; Dos Santos (Karic, 69), Jones (Gomez, 85), Hunter (Holman, 80), Gallagher (Saveska, 85); Johnson, Galic (Chessari, 80)

Junior Ferns: Edwards; van der Meer (Dugan, 65), Jacobs (Niedermayr, 46), Taylor, Catherwood (McMeeken, 46); Wilford-Carroll (booked, 67), Bellamy (Whinham, 46), Duncan (booked, 90); Wasi (Ingham, 18), Pritchard (Clegg, 46), Lancaster

Referee: Anna-Marie Keighley

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