Young Matildas downed 2-1 by China

The Young Matildas have gone down 2-1 to hosts China in their third match of the AFC U19 Championships.

A Hayley Raso goal was not enough to prevent Australia from going down to hosts China 2 - 1 in their third match of the AFC U19 Championships in Nanjing, China.

A late brace from Wang Shuang cancelled out Raso-s early second half goal to knock the Young Matilda/s out of the running for the 2014 FIFA U/20 Women-s World Cup.

It was a disappointing result considering the match started brightly for the Young Matildas with Larissa Crummer fashioning their first half chance six minutes in.

After chasing down an attempted clearance, the striker went close to latching onto the loose ball but Chinese goalkeeper Lu Feifei came out to quickly smother the opportunity.

The Young Matildas didn-t have to wait long for their next opening when a strong run from Amy Harrison saw the midfielder lay off to Georgia Yeoman-Dale but her shot couldn-t evade Feifei at the near post.

The hosts eventually worked their way into the match but solid defending from the central pairing of Elizabeth Ralston and Sally Rojahn kept the Steel Roses at bay.

Zhu Beiyan had China-s first look at Mackenzie Arnold-s goal on the angle but she was unable to produce enough power to trouble the Young Matildas custodian.

That then signalled a period of dominance for Australia.

First, a neat one-two between Crummer and Harrison culminated with the latter-s strike drifting inches from breaking the deadlock.

Then Chloe Logarzo met Yeoman-Dale-s cross with the captain heading just wide.

In additional time China forced some chances late through Dong Jiabao, and then Zhao Xinzhai but they were unable to breach the Australian defence leaving the scores locked at half time.

Two minutes after the restart Australia took the lead when Yeoman-Dale played a lovely ball into the path of Raso. Outpacing the Chinese defence, the striker calmly slotted home to the bottom left corner from 10 yards out.

The hosts looked to reply quickly and minutes later they had two chances in quick succession when Wang Shuang-s header and Zhu Beiyan-s shot both floated wide.

Australian went close to doubling their lead on the hour mark as speedster Raso was again played into space.

Bursting past the defence and streaming clear in space towards goal, the striker was tugged back but only a yellow card was shown to the defender.

The resulting Logarzo free kick just missed the mark as did Wang Shuang-s 66th minute free kick.

Raso was again causing the Chinese defence issues in the 70th minute with a slalom run before firing just over.

Australia were left to rue their missed opportunities when Wang Shuang brought the hosts level in the 77th minute courtesy of a distance stunner.

On the restart Shuang repeated the dose from an identical distance and position with the same result to give China a 2 - 1 victory.

"To say I-m shattered for the team would be an understatement," said Young Matildas coach Spencer Prior.

"The girls really deserved something from that game tonight but credit to China they took their chances well and finished strong."

"It-s a disappointing end to what-s been a fantastic journey with this group of players."