The Westfield Junior Matildas secured a spot in the knockout stage of the AFC U-16 Women’s Championship for the first time since 2009 after a 2-2 draw with Bangladesh on Saturday night.
Australia had to come from behind to clinch a Semi Final spot against the South Asians, who led at half time thanks to Tohura Khatun's classy long range effort.
Rae Dower's side piled on the pressure in search of an equaliser, and it came when Claudia Mihocic scrambled in Hana Lowry's corner kick in the 77th minute.
However, Khatun put Bangladesh straight back in front just a minute later after breaching the defence and sliding an effort past goalkeeper Miranda Templeman.
But Australia rallied once again, and Paige Zois levelled things from distance,ensuring the Junior Matildas advance to the final four as Group A runners-up.
Featured image courtesy of the AFC
"I'm extremely proud of the entire team, staff and players and we're ecstatic to have secured a place in the Semi Finals of the Asian Championship, taking us the next step towards our overall goal," said Dower.
"It's fair to say that our performance tonight was not our best and there's plenty of room for improvement in all areas. There's a number of key learning moments to come out of the match for the team and we will take some time to rest, recover, refuel and work on those moments together.
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"Overall we didn't execute out game plan very well and most importantly the fluency in our passing game was missing. Our passing completion was poor, well down on what this team prides itself on so that is something that the girls are disappointed about.
"I am proud though that they kept fighting and managed to come from behind twice to get a point out of the match. That 'never say die' attitude was on display and with better execution on the ball we can approach the Semi Final with great enthusiasm."
