NOW, FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

To come straight off the back of a dispiriting, embarrassing 5-1 shellacking from North Korea and turn it immediately into a fiery, determined 3-1 win against Thailand in front of noisy home supporters is a trait that will take these girls to their rightful place among the world's best.

It might take a while, but they will get there eventually. Credit to Leah Blayney, whatever she said after the opener was there to see all over that pitch tonight.

As we said against the Koreans, the individual quality is just too strong to ignore, it's the overall implementation that appears to be the problem.

Against both Thailand and the PRK, the Young Matildas were immediately aggressive. They reared out off the blocks with a point to prove, but unlike against the Koreans - where they were forced into submission by the quick reactions of their opposition - the Thais were too shellshocked to get a grip on the game.

This ultimately comes down to Thailand's preparation and football-intelligence, but it's not an approach that's unreplicable against top-quality opposition. The secret lies in consistency.

The Young Matildas actually took the lead against the Koreans, before immediately dropping the tempo, conceding, and failing to ever recover that dynamism. Against the Thais they retained the pressure, dominating that first half with aplomb.

The passing remains an achilles heel. At this level, on this pitch, it's too much to ask for tiki-taka but it remains the major unsettling factor that reduces our ability to retain possession and wear the opposition down.

If you can't keep possession, you can't attempt a high-tempo, aggressive style for 90 minutes. But if we can find a way to maintain that intensity for long enough, performances like these show that we can do the damage early on.