England v Australia friendly: Clare Polkinghorne strikes late as Matildas share spoils with Poms
MATILDAS boss Alen Stajcic insists he can take comfort from Australia’s 1-1 draw with England, despite watching his side escape with a draw thanks to several dubious refereeing decisions.
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UPDATE: MATILDAS boss Alen Stajcic insists he can take comfort from Australia’s 1-1 draw with England, despite watching his side escape with a draw thanks to several dubious refereeing decisions.
Hailing the effort of his players, Stajcic revealed that several were carrying injuries while others had been struck down by the flu in the build up to the game.
The draw followed a narrow loss to France at the weekend, with a squad shorn of several senior players, and though England were much the better side, denied two clear penalties and a goal wrongly ruled offside, Stajcic took heart from Australia’s ability to fashion a late goal against the side ranked third in the world.
“There’s no doubt that if you look at our performance, there’s a lot of things we can work on,” he said. “But you also have to consider our fatigue levels, a long journey and jet lag in getting to France last week and a 10-hour travel day to come to England.
“We had Kyah Simon ruled out on the day of the game, Steph Catley will have surgery tomorrow on a knee problem. Claire Polkinghorne hadn’t played for five weeks and we had three suffering flu this week.
“There are lots of things we can look forward to from this game, playing under physical duress. England were probably unlucky on a couple of penalties, but I felt we caused them problems on the break.
“England are a fantastic team, World Cup semifinalists, but no one can doubt the heart and resilience of our team in difficult circumstances.”
Striker Fran Kirby had given England the lead in the first half, after a mistake by Australian goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold, and the Lionesses had two clear penalty appeals waved away, a goal wrongly disallowed for offside and another not given when the ball appeared to cross the goalline.
But Polkinghorne’s header, with six minutes left, gave Australia the consolation of a draw, even though plenty of question marks hung over the performance.
Stajcic hinted that he would continue to monitor the workload and fatigue levels of his players ahead of next year’s World Cup, after Sam Kerr, Lydia Williams, Alanna Kennedy and Emily van Egmond all missed the games in France and England.
The Matildas have games in Sydney and Newcastle next month, but Kennedy has recently had surgery and Simon is already in doubt.
“A number of players are carrying injuries – Kyah could be out for four to five weeks,” he said. “There’s a lot of over-use injuries we have to be wary of. It’s vital we have a fully fit squad by next June (for the World Cup), if we’re carrying injuries then it will impact on our chances.
Eleven years after her debut – and having played at two World Cups, in different positions – Elise Kellond-Knight was presented with a special commemorative jersey before the game to mark the occasion of her 100th cap.
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