SO WHERE'S OUR WEAK SPOT?

It's easy to pick apart a single moment over a 90 minute match, lose context, and read too much into a loss of concentration.

Lydia Williams' mix-up with Clare Polkinghorne was more of a wince than a shriek and it comes from a goalkeeper who has been performing very strongly in the W-League this season, putting rest to the fears over her match-fitness that have plagued Australia for some time now.

It was, essentially, a flash in the pan. However if we had to pick one player that the Matildas missed most tonight, we'd be looking at Alanna Kennedy.

She plays two fundamental roles for the national team: she's our most astute defensive playmaker and our most confident assuring centreback. She's a natural leader, she talks, she yells.

Jenna McCormick is solid and obviously very promising, yet inexperienced and thus, unspectacular. Polkinghorne, while demonstrable and rock solid, lacks that dynamism and attacking impetus.

Less clear is the emerging fullback challenge.

It was interesting to see how Karly Roestbakken performed tonight, at the exclusion of Ellie Carpenter. We benefitted from the balance that Roestbakken added, playing a more restrained, organised fullback role.

This allowed Emily van Egmond and Caitlin Foord to work their magic on our right side and build dangerously through the middle, as we focused more on recycling narrow attacks than bombing forward on the counter.

Simultaneously, we missed Carpenter's pace in defending counter-attacks such as the two that led to Taiwan's greatest chances of the match. Food for thought for Milicic, but boy is it an excellent problem to have.