New Zealand’s Young Ferns finished their three-match Australian tour on July 15, finding themselves on the wrong end of a 4-1 scoreline at the hands of reigning W-League champions Sydney FC at Valentine Sports Park. The Young Ferns found themselves a goal down after three minutes after failing to clear a corner, and by the time they had recovered their composure Sydney had doubled their lead, a defensive error in the ninth minute leaving the tourists with the proverbial mountain to climb. In fairness, Dave Edmondson’s charges went about doing just that, battling their way back into the match and playing well in patches, only to concede a third goal on the stroke of half-time. "We’d worked on a couple of things in training", said the Young Ferns’ coach afterwards, "knowing we were up against a very good team, full of older, more experienced players, but we just didn’t adapt quickly enough at the start of the match". A finger injury Chloe-May Geurts picked up in the second match of the tour, against the New South Wales Institute of Sport, failed to heal in time for this fixture, meaning Jess Reddaway had the chance to stake a claim for the number one jersey, an opportunity which, it’s fair to say, she didn’t grasp with both hands - the ‘keeper could have done better with a couple of the goals she conceded, particularly those in the first ten minutes. "We did well to get back into it, but Sydney’s goal just before half-time really hurt the girls - they were gutted. We changed a couple of things round for the second half, and totally dominated it, enjoying at least 60% possession, and playing some really nice football". Eight minutes into the second half came some reward for their efforts. Olivia Chance challenged and won the ball off Sydney’s right-back before making a bee-line for goal. The central defender came across to challenge, but Chance slipped it inside to Hannah Wong, who steered home a side-footed effort from twelve yards into the bottom corner. There could have been more goals for the Young Ferns, with both Holly Patterson and Evie Millynn denied by the offside flag, but with literally the last kick of the game they conceded the final goal of the evening, as Sydney capitalised on an ineffective clearance.

Tessa McPherson - impressive again Chloe-May Geurts - injured yet praised Olivia Chance - are you Ali Riley in disguise?

"We had a number of good performances tonight", said Edmondson, "with Kate Loye coming into her own in the second half, and Olivia Chance outstanding again. Tessa McPherson brought the ball out of defence well - that’s something we’ve been working on - while Holly Patterson had her best game of the tour. "And Ashleigh Ward showed some nice touches when she came on. But as for Sydney’s Leena Khamis - wowee, what a player!!" Young Matildas’ coach, Alen Stajcic, who was instrumental in the arrangement of this tour and played a pivotal role in coaching the Young Ferns’ opposition, was pleased to have his teams face some World Cup-bound rivals who provided the quality of competition he wanted for his sides, and greatly impressed him generally. Chloe-May Geurts and Olivia Chance earned particular praise from Stajcic, who labelled the winger the best Kiwi he’d seen in age-grade football, comparing her favourably with 2009 Oceania Women’s Player of the Year, Ali Riley. The Young Ferns are now some six weeks out from departing for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Finals in Trinidad & Tobago. The plans between now and then entail four weekend training camps, with matches against U-15 boys teams from Central United and Forrest Hill-Milford United on the Friday nights. On that first weekend, July 24-25, the full squad will come into camp, after which Edmondson will trim it down to 24 players, before naming the World Cup squad on the weekend of the National Women’s Knockout Cup semi-finals, August 7-8. "We go to Miami on August 27", says Edmondson, "and we’ll be one of a number of countries staying there en route to Trinidad & Tobago. So we’re hopeful of arranging a couple of friendly internationals while there, prior to the Finals". The Young Ferns will face Venezuela (September 7 at 11am, NZ time in Couva), Spain (10th, 8am in Couva) and Japan (14th, 8am in Scarborough) in their group at the U-17 Finals. Line-up:     Reddaway; Bowen, Boyce (Carlton, 75), McPherson (Windsor, 60), Head (Lee, 75); Burrows (Carlsen, 62), Loye, Millynn; Patterson, Wong (Ward, 70), Chance