Young Matildas fall 1 - 0

Teigen Allen starred for the Young Matildas | TWG

The Westfield Young Matildas suffered a narrow defeat against DPR Korea last, going 1-nil down.  A first half strike from DPR Korea's Kwon Song-Hwa was enough to fell the Young Matildas despite several gilt edge chances.  The match was played under difficult conditions after torrential afternoon downpour making for difficult playing conditions. Despite that the Young Matildas again started brightly with Nicola Bolger's second minute strike missing narrowly. 

That early scare sparked the Koreans into action with Kim Jo-Ran and Jon Myong-Hwa dictating the midfield tempo and in the 16th minute Kim Jo-ran went closed to giving them the lead before the Australian defence scrambled the ball away.

Five minutes later they eventually gained the lead with Kim Jo-ran again. Streaming down the left-wing, Jo-ran cut inside her marker, teed up Kwon on the edge of the box and the forward unleashed a stunning strike past the outstretched Casey Dumont.

With the lead, the Koreans looked to press their advantage as Jon's long-range shot went narrowly wide.  The Young Matildas slowly wrested back possession and went close to equalising in the 36th minute.

After winning a corner, Caitlin Foord played a short one-two with Ashley Brown before the later cross to Tara Andrews, who beautifully controlled the ball on her chest only to see her volley rattle the post. The rebound fell to Teigen Allen but she could only find the keeper's gloves.

The Young Matildas continued to press and again went close to equalising just before the break.  Again it was Andrews in the action when her strike hit the upright after being played in expertly by Bolger. 

Following the break, the Australian's took up where they left offEmily van Egmond unloaded a low strike early on in the second half forcing a fine stop from DPR Korea's 'keeper O Chang-Ran.

The Australian's continued to dominate the contest but some desparate defending and bad luck foiled all their attempts.  First when Allen released Andrews in the 60th minute on the right wing with the tall striker's finding Foord.  In space, it was frustration again as her shot found the inside of the left post before rebounding away. Then Allen got on the end of a corner but was unable to capitalise.

DPR Korea had half chances to extend their lead when substitute Kim Un-Hwa fired wide and Jon's strike was well-saved by Dumont.

The Young Matildas continued to create chances for themselves including one last corner which saw Andrews' glancing header brushing past the near post.

Despite their fine performance, DPR Korea held on to claim the three points and rise to the top the table.

Although frustrated, Westfield Young Matildas head coach Jeff Hopkins was pleased with the performance.

“They really adapted to circumstances and conditions of the game, which were not easy. There were some great individual performances out there too,” said Hopkins.

“Alanna Kennedy was under pressure in every instance, yet her composure on the ball was first class, that is what international football is about.”

Looking towards the Japan game in two days time, Hopkins is looking for the players to recover both physically and mentally.

“I know that we are disappointed. I feel we deserved to get something out of the game tonight,” continued Hopkins.

“It is really important for us to now recover this evening and regroup tomorrow as we prepare for Japan.”

The Westfield Young Matildas will play Japan in the third of five FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup qualification matches on Monday.

Live match updates and behind the scenes stills and footage will be available via Girls FC Facebook www.facebook.com/girlsfc and Twitter http://twitter.com/FFAGirlsFC

Westfield Young Matildas v DPR Korea - 2012 FIFA Youth World Cup Qualifiers

Australia                               0

DPR KOREA                         1  

Saturday, 8 October 2011

Thanh Long Sports Centre , Vietnam

Westfield Young Matildas line-up: Casey DUMONT (gk), Stephanie CATLEY, Rebekah STOTT, Alanna KENNEDY (c), Hannah BREWER, Nicola BOLGER (Emily GIELNIK 80’), Emily VAN EGMOND, Teigen ALLEN, Caitlin FOORD (Marianna TABAIN 70’), Tara ANDREWS, Ashley BROWN (Vedrana POPOVIC 72’)

Yellow cards: Emily VAN EGMOND 87’

Red cards: Nil