Welcome return to winning ways has Matildas intent on keeping belief and morale high with a second victory over South Korea

With next year’s AFC Women’s Asian Cup fast approaching, the Matildas want to turn winning into a habit.

The Matildas thank their fans after beating South Korea 1-0. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Matildas interim coach Tom Sermanni says it’s vital that his team builds further momentum ahead of next year’s AFC Women’s Asian Cup with another win over South Korea in Newcastle on Monday night.

The Australians bounced back from their poor performance in February’s She Believes Cup – where they lost all three of their games – with a 1-0 win over the South Koreans on Friday night at Allianz Stadium.

While it was far from a complete performance, Sermanni said the victory – which was secured by an own goal in the 54th minute from South Korean defender Lim Seon-joo – would boost the mood and morale in the Matildas camp ahead of Monday’s second match of the two-game series at McDonald Jones Stadium.

“International teams have up and downs based on a whole variety of things, but at some stage, you have to try to get momentum back,” Sermanni said.

“(Winning) changes the mood (and) it changes the confidence. Getting out there and getting the win was really important, and hopefully that will start to build more momentum into the next game, and more momentum heading into the Asian Cup.”

The Matildas celebrate after taking a 1-0 lead over South Korea thanks to an own goal. Picture: AP Photo/Rick Rycroft

Matildas goalkeeper Teagan Micah said Friday night’s win was a “big relief” after Australia’s respective 4-0, 2-1 and 2-1 losses at the She Believes Cup to Japan, USA and Colombia.

“It was a really hard tournament for us, and we didn’t accept that as a playing group,” Micah said.

“We didn’t want to go out that way. We came together and we said `let’s turn things around’.

“We did that and I’m really proud of that.”

Matildas midfielder Emily van Egmond said there were areas her side needed to review ahead of Monday’s game, but was pleased the Australians had kept a clean sheet for this first time in four matches.

“They’ve got some unbelievable players in their team so to have kept them at bay was really good for us,” van Egmond said.

Micah agreed, saying a clean sheet was needed not just for her, but for the whole team.

“It felt like a team effort. We all got around each other,” the Liverpool keeper said.