An ice-cool finish from substitute Mary Fowler has handed the Matildas a 1-0 win over world No. 5 France in front of a stunning record crowd of 50,629.
Fowler’s strike in the 65th minute was all that separated the two sides in the Matildas’ final World Cup warm-up game before the tournament kicks off on July 20 against Ireland.
The youngster, brought on at half-time in place of Cortnee Vine, needed just 20 minutes to make her mark on the contest.
Fowler, brought on at half-time in place of Cortnee Vine, wasted little time in making her mark on the contest.
Some brilliant work from Kara Cooney-Cross on the right allowed her to play in Hayley Raso who had burst into space on the wing.
The Real Madrid winger beat her defender before squaring the ball back into the box where Fowler was waiting.
The Manchester City youngster calmly took a touch before coolly slotting past France goalkeeper Peyraud-Magnin to open the scoring.
Crucially, the goal came after Caitlin Foord and Sam Kerr had been substituted off, proving the Matildas are able to find the back of the net without their superstar strike duo.
Fowler’s goal was the first piece of real action in the second half after an entertaining opening 45 minutes.
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Matildas take on France in WC warm-up | 01:17
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The electric pace of Vine on the left and Raso on the right gave France’s fullbacks nightmares as a surge of gold shirts burst forward on transition.
France could also count themselves unlucky not to have got on the scoresheet just yet too.
Clare Hunt’s poor touch immediately pulled her out of position and gifted the ball to Diani.
Her deflected block fell perfectly into the path of Selma Bacha who was streaking down the left past Katrina Gorry who was working hard to track back.
But Bacha’s shot was well saved by Matildas goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold, with the rebound cleared to safety by Alanna Kennedy.
A better chance for France arrived in the 19th minute when a mistimed header from a Matildas defender fell perfectly to a French player, but her close-range shot was expertly blocked by Hunt.
Foord then had a golden chance when she was put through by a perfectly-weighted through ball from Gorry.
She twisted and turned her way past Renard, but could only fire a close-range shot straight at Peyraud-Magnin.