10-women Westfield Young Matildas still win easily

The Westfield Young Matildas have qualified for next years AFC U-19 Women's Championship, with a 6-0 win over IR Iran at the KLFA Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The Westfield Young Matildas have qualified for next years AFC U-19 Women's Championship, with a 6-0 win over IR Iran at the KLFA Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Despite going down to 10 women for the majority of the match after Linda O'Neill was sent off for a second yellow card in the 23rd minute of the match, the Australians were always in control with the Iran keeper proving hard to beat throughout.

Australia was already 2-0 up when O'Neill was dismissed and led 3-0 at the break, before adding a further three goals in the last 20 minutes.

Kyah Simon grabbed two of the goals, with Marianna Tabain, Emily Van Egmond, Tameka Butt and Samatha Kerr all grabbing goals.

It took only five minutes for Australia to assert its authority on the match, with Tabain finishing neatly with a shot from the right channel of the penalty box.

Six minutes later, Simon made it 2-0 with a close range finish. Simon started and finished the move, playing a great through ball to Karina Roweth. She carried the ball down right; crossed to Tabain, whose header came back off the crossbar bar. O'Neill collected and flicked the ball back across, where Simon finished from six yards out.

The O'Neill dismissal didn't halt the Australia momentum however, although the Iran keeper did her best to thwart attempts on goal, denying Tabain twice and Polias with excellent saves.

Teresa Polias struck the crossbar with a fierce shot from 25 metres out, while Jessica Seaman, Tabain and Simon pushed good chances wide.

Australia's persistence though was finally rewarded right on half time, when Tabain put in a great low cross in behind the defence and Simon raced through to finish from around 10 metres out.

The second half proved frustrating for Australia and it was left up to the three substitutes that came on to grab the last three goals.

Van Egmond, daughter of Newcastle Jets coach Gary, produced a fine solo effort to make it 4-0 in the 71st minute; Butt finished off from close range in the 79th minute and in injury time, Kerr finished the scoring with the ball eventually getting over the line after the keeper had got a hand to her shot from 15 metres.

Coach Alen Stajcic praised the performance in the sticky conditions with just 10 players for the majority of the match.

"It was a courageous performance playing 70 minutes with 10 players in hot and humid conditions," he said.

"The result was very pleasing and ensures our qualification to the Asian U19 Women's Championship next year.

"In saying that though, we still have a long way to go in terms of improving our quality of play in front of goal," he added.

Match Details

Australia 6 (Marianna Tabain 5', Kyah Simon 11'/45', Emily Van Egmond 71', Tameka Butt 79', Samantha Kerr 91')

Australian line-up: Sian McLaren (gk), Christine Walters, Jessica Seaman, Alesha Clifford, Samantha Spackman, Teresa Polias, Karina Roweth, Angela Fimmano (Emily Van Egmond 58'), Linda O'Neill, Marianna Tabain (Samantha Kerr 82'), Kyah Simon (Tameka Butt 58')

Cautions: O'Neill 10'/23', Fimmano 36' Exoulsions: O'Neill 23'